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Subject:
From:
Kathleen Bruce <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 30 Jul 1997 18:47:40 -0400
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I am taking a listowner's prerogative in posting this. Skip if you do not
read unrelated notes. Kathleen

> From: [log in to unmask]
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Life or Death -- *not* comedy
> Date: Tuesday, July 29, 1997 10:10 PM
>
>
> Dear Top5 Subscribers,
>
> My name is Chris White, and you may know me as the owner and
> editor of The Top 5 List.  I apologize in advance for using
> this venue for something other than Top5 or comedy, but I
> assure you this is of sufficient urgency to warrant it.
>
> I am forwarding a message from a friend of mine, Alan Kuo,
> who is dying of leukemia and has only a few months to live
> unless he can find a bone marrow donor who matches him.
>
> I assure you that this is no e-mail hoax, as I know Alan
> personally and have known of his condition for some time now.
> I hope that this is one instance where the awesome power of
> the Internet can truly make a difference.
>
> If you have no interest, then you needn't read further.
> For those of you who *are* interested, here's Alan's message.
>
> Thank you for anything you can do to help.
>
> Sincerly,
> Chris
>
>
> July 24, 1997
>
> Dear friends, apologies for the mass-mailing and for the delays.
> Most of you have not heard from me for awhile, or at best received a
> cursory note saying that I was busy.  I owe each of you an
> explanation.  When reading what follows, I ask that you think of
> pleasant times and conversations, both profound and light-hearted,
> that I have had with each of you.  Without further ado, here is my
> explanation:
>
> As each of you already knows, I have been suffering from chronic
> myelogenous leukemia for more than two years.  Various attempts to
> control or eradicate the cancerous bone marrow cells have so far
> failed.  But at least my doctor and I were able to keep the cancer at
> bay to the extent that I could function as a normal and real human
> being.  For the past two years I have sought treatments, worked and
> played, traveled and enjoyed the big and little things in Life,
> continued old friendships and even built new ones, and found Love.
> So in a sense my cancer was not real, it was merely an abstraction
> from a blood smear.
>
> Now everything has changed, and not for the better.  On July 7, 1997,
> I was diagnosed as entering 'blast crisis', where the erstwhile
> chronic leukemia becomes acute and chemotherapeutic regimens become
> but delaying actions to forestall the inevitable.  From three to six
> months from now my cancerous marrow cells will proliferate out of
> control and kill me, unless they are ruthlessly eradicated and
> replaced with someone else's healthy bone marrow.  Of course that
> healthy marrow must be tissue-compatible with me (must 'match' me).
>
> Most of you already know about the existence of bone marrow donor
> registries, that no one on those registries matches me, and that the
> best chance of finding someone who matches me is to add as many
> Asians as possible to those registries.  And many of you, thankfully,
> have made great efforts to add Asians to those registries.
> Unfortunately, despite two years of effort, we have not yet found a
> match for me.  So today, I ask you to join me to try again.  I say,
> One last push.  Because THIS IS IT.
>
> So what to do?  Just get every Asian on the planet registered.
> Here's how to do it:
>
> 1. If you are Asian, get yourself registered.  And your relatives
>    too.  In the USA, it's free.
>
> 2. Get all your Asian friends, colleagues, and associates registered.
>
> 3. Pass this note (soft and hard copies) or selected parts of it to
>    everyone, and I mean EVERYONE.  I have written a 'personal appeal'
>    at the bottom of this email that should be suitable for this
>    purpose.  The same appeal appears on my new website.
>
> 4. Website, what website?  It should be up-and-running by the time
>    you get this email.  It is rudimentary, but is improving.  The
>    technical master behind it is Ben Burbridge and technical
>    difficulties shall be made known to him.  This website contains all
>    sorts of stuff that are useful in order to get registered and to
>    convince other people to register.  Feel free to copy or download
>    anything there.  The URL is www.slip.net/~rwwood
>
> 5. Volunteer for registration drives, or organize one yourself.  An
>    easy way to do this is to call up one of the non-profit organizations
>    that exist to register Asians. There is also no reason you might not
>    donate technical expertise or money to these or other such
>    organizations.  In the USA, the major non-profits are:
>
>      Asian American Donor Program (AADP)
>      2363 Mariner Square Drive, Suite 241
>      Alameda, CA 94501 USA
>      1-800-593-6667
>      510-523-3366 phone
>      510-523-3790 fax
>      [log in to unmask]
>
>      Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M)
>      Casa Heiwa, 231 E. 3rd St.
>      Los Angeles, CA 90013 USA
>      1-888-A3M-HOPE
>      213-473-1661 phone
>      [log in to unmask]
>
>      Cammy Lee Leukemia Foundation (CLLF)
>      37 St. Marks Place, Suite B
>      New York, New York 10003 USA
>      1-800-77-CAMMY
>      212-460-5983 phone
>      212-460-5971 fax
>      [log in to unmask]
>
>      Buddhist Compassion Relief
>      Tzu-Chi Foundation USA (BCRTCFUSA)
>      1000 S. Garfield Ave.
>      Los Angeles, CA 91801 USA
>      626-281-9801 marrow hotline
>      626-281-3383 phone
>      626-281-9799 fax
>      [log in to unmask]
>
> 6. Do your own thing.  For example, Ray Lin has today taken it upon
>    himself to contact every news agency in the San Francisco Bay Area
>    and talk them into running a story about me.  Holle Singer filmed an
>    interview with me in New York to be used as a public service
>    announcement.  Ben of course created the website.  Others of you have
>    volunteered to write newspaper articles or to create videos or to
>    contact Asian community organizations or Asian churches.  Translation
>    of my personal appeal into Korean and Vietnamese is a must (I already
>    have people doing Chinese and Japanese).
>
> 7. For more information, consult the website, contact the non-profits,
>    or talk to my parents James and Joyce [[log in to unmask]], my
>    sister Zenda [[log in to unmask]], or my sweetie Ako [[log in to unmask]
>    org].  DO NOT REPLY to this email address, as it is temporary.
>
> I find this letter strange, because as you know I am a fairly
> independent kind of person.  But for the first time I truly truly
> need your help.  Without it I definitely will not make it to your
> next birthday party.  ;)
>
> Good luck, take care, and of course, be most excellent to your
> friends.  Love, Alan
>
> PERSONAL APPEAL follows
>
> Hello.  My name is Alan Kuo.  I have only three months left to live,
> according to my doctors.  Only someone like you can save me.  This is
> why:
>
> I have leukemia, a cancer of the blood.  The only known cure for this
> disease is a bone marrow transplant.  Without it I will die.  To
> receive a transplant, I must find a tissue-matched donor.  Because
> tissue type varies by ethnicity, my matching donor will most likely
> be found among people like myself, people of Asian descent - like
> you.
>
> So far, I have not found a matching donor.
>
> This is why I am appealing to you, a fellow Asian, to ask for your
> help.  You and your friends can make the difference between life and
> death for me, as well as for others present and future who suffer
> from this cancer.  It takes just fifteen minutes of your time, a
> simple blood test will determine if you are my match.  Please help
> save my life by registering with your local marrow donor program.
>
> My parents are immigrants from China and Taiwan, and I love them and
> my sister dearly.  My family has pushed me to study hard at Harvard
> and to earn my PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; I am
> presently doing biomedical research at the University of California
> at San Francisco, a premier medical center which is also treating my
> leukemia.  I am sad that my promising career is being prematurely
> terminated by a random disease.  I am far more saddened by the
> possibility of being separated forever, in as little as three months,
> from my family, from my many friends, and from my dear Ako.  And I
> wish more than anything to continue enjoying this blessing we call
> Life.  So please get your tissue typed, you might save a life.

Kathleen B. Bruce, BSN, IBCLC co-owner Lactnet,TLC, Indep. Consultant
http://together.net/~kbruce/kbbhome.html
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