Please come out to a bone marrow drive to be held this weekend at a business called the Brewline @ 1245 San Fernando Rd in the City of San Fernando. This non-profit event is being held by the Corrales family in conjunction with the City of Hope. It is our desire to find a match for Robert Corrales a Los Angeles County Sheriff, husband and father. There are thousands out there who have Leukemia and their lives will be taken unless they can obtain a bone marrow donation. To be tested just takes a quick swabs of the mouth and a registration form. At any time, even after testing, you can feel free to withdraw from the donor bank.
My husbands office is near there...I just copied your info and sent it to him, so he can have someone from his group check it out, and send a company-wide email!
Hi Joanne,
I'm so sorry to hear about your need. You should let people know if there is a cost involved with this. Unless someone has donated to fund this drive, testing costs $54/person. (I ran a drive a couple of years ago). Often, City of Hope will run a combined blood and bone marrow drive. A free HLA typing is offered for every blood donor: the blood donor does NOT need to be the same person offering the swab for HLA typing.
I am not an expert in this field, although I've gained considerable background over the last couple of years. I lost a close friend to a rare form of ALL just over a year ago (Joel was 37 and left behind a wife and 3 little boys under the age of 8) and my cousin Martin (age 52, left a wife and 21-yr old daughter) died from a preventable, or at least treatable, CMV infection following a BMT for AML just two months ago. (Stanford has admitted malpractice in his death, which could have been prevented with better patient advocacy and better practices on Stanford's part.)
It is VERY important that your friend have a good patient advocate working for him. Leukemia is a complex disease and the treatment is a long, painful and arduous process. It is also very important that his caregiver receive lots of support from friends and family, as well as the social worker and counselors that CoH will provide. Websites such as caringbridge.com and lotsahelpinghands.com offer really good resources for keeping people informed, sending messages of love and support, and scheduling help, such as meals and childcare.
Please feel free to contact me if you need information or help understanding the process. I'll do the best I can.
I pray that Robert will have a complete healing of body and soul, and that those supporting him will be given the strength to do so.
Blessings to all of you,
R.
Do you happen to know the times?
Hello Ms. Grijalva. My name is J. and I would LOVE to come out and donate. Unfortunately, I will be out of town and can't make it to the bone marrow drive this weekend. If possible, please let me know if there's another time I could do it.
Best of Luck.
J.
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