My name is María Ghaferieh Boghossian, I am 36 years old and I suffer from leukemia. I am happily married with a marvellous husband and have 2 wonderful children and I thanks God for them every single day.
Although I am Spanish, I am of Iranian and Armenian descent; I mean my father is from Iran and my mother from Armenia.
I decided to write this mail because my situation is quite delicate and I need all possible help to save my life. I would like to make an appeal for help to all of you for this hard fight against the leukemia
I have suffered this illness for one year. Last June I had a bone marrow transplant which resulted to be a failure and even worsened my situation. Before it, my illness was curable but now the possibilities are very few. My only possibility is to find a donor to make a second transplant just after an experimental chemotherapy. The doctors said this is the last card they can play. I will be hospitalized soon to take this new chemotherapy and just after, if it succeeds I would receive the transplant.
And here it is where I need you because I DON NOT HAVE A COMPATIBLE DONOR. And if I don’t find any, the chemotherapy treatment would have been for nothing.
Most people do not know the procedure for bone marrow donation and only the thought frightens them, but let me explain to you what it is. Being a bone marrow donor means that first they get a small blood sample from you, same as when you pass a routine blood test, and this blood is analysed and included into a data base where all people waiting for a donor are.
In many cases donors are in the data base for a long time until they find a compatible sick person, it can take even years as it is not a question of compatibility between blood groups but a series of genetic information. In the case of compatibility the process of the donation is very easy since the science has moved forward very much.
Bone marrow is taken out of the donor by the cellules that are in the blood; there is no need to go to any bone of estrange place. The extraction is made through the vein in the arm, exactly the same as for a test or a blood donation. With the great advantage that the blood goes to a machine that separates the cellules needed for the bone marrow from the other cellules and the machine gives the rest of the blood back to the person. The quantity to get is smaller than for a blood donation and the process as easy as safe and do not mean any kind of risk for the donor.
To be a donor you must be between 18 and 55 years old and the only thing you need to do is go to any hospital where they have blood bank, anywhere in the world, indicate that you want to be a bone marrow donor and give my name.
If people were aware of the simplicity of this process I am sure that we could safe more lives since there are lot of kids and adolescent waiting for a compatible donor. This small act can give life expectation to that child. And even to an adult as me.
If you want more information you can go to Fundación Carreras web site
http://www.fcarreras.org.
My despair is that big that I have also decided to offer 6.000 € to this one who is compatible with me. Please understand my situation, there is no more time left and if God allows it, this could be my opportunity to live.
As my origin is Iranian-Armenian, the doctors say it could be more effective to find a donor with same origin as me. So if you know any Armenian or any Iranian people, or even someone from Asia, I would be grateful if you could tell him about my needs. But if you have not same origin as me, I would also beg of you to go to the Hospital to make the test… you never know where a compatible person with me can be.
If you want to get in touch with me, you can do it through my email
[email protected]
Please have all my gratitude in advance first for having taken your time to read this mail and second if within your heart you find a place to understand my situation and want to become a bone marrow donor. But if you can not make this, other way of helping me is by sending this mail to all your contacts. The more donors, the more possibilities to find a compatible person with me.
URGENT!! MARIA GHAFERIEH NEEDS TO FIND BONE MARROW DONOR
