Be the match: Seeking marrow donor

This was forwarded to me, originally from Naomi Osugi, from Nanka Judo

 I have some bad news but hopefully this will turn out to be a wonderful miraculous event that all of us can enjoy being a part of. You may have already heard since news travels fast but I just found out yesterday from Yone himself that he was given a devastating medical diagnosis of MDS. Still learning about that but it's the same diagnosis Robin Roberts of Good Morning America has and she was able to find a donor match bone marrow of her older sister and is doing much better. If there is no match then it's 8 months or so to live so it's pretty fatal.

 Yone had pneumonia and while being treated for that his Dr found that he has MDS. It's a blood cancer disease and the only thing that will save him is to find a bone marrow match. Being that he is Japanese, the chances of a match are really scarce. His kids are half Japanese so less chance for a match. I contacted an organization called Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M) based here in Downtown LA. Debbie and I are going through training to volunteer since we are too old to be possible donors.

 They are looking for Asians preferably Japanese (found better chances of being a match) between the ages of 18 to 44. Those between 18-44 to see if they are possible donors is free of charge. It is a really simple procedure of just filling out confidential forms and taking a q-tip swab of inner cheek. For anyone older than 44 up to the age of 60 can submit also but it will cost them about $100. The funding pays for the targeted age group of 18-44 but not for the one's older because it's less likely they would be a match to anyone.

 I spoke to my brother Kenji already and he is helping spread the word. Debbie and I would like to come to the next Nanka tournament and have a table for taking applications to be a donor at the next Nanka tournament, and we are being trained to take the sample swabs and complete the process too. Debbie said contact you because you know everybody and have the resources to get the information out there. If you can help us get the news out and attached is the link for those who want to apply to be a donor if they want to do this online:

  join.bethematch.org/a3mhope

If they are not a match to Yoshisada Yonezuka, at the very least they may be helping someone else by being a donor match.