Washington DC Indo-Pak National Basketball Tournament (DCIPNBT)
Bone Marrow Drive
(A Bone Marrow Drive was held at DCIPNBT in 2006 for Ashish)
You might be asking who is this child pictured above? His name is Ashish Thomas.
Ashish Thomas was born on 8th March, 2005. He is 9 months old and is the youngest of our three children. Ashish was recently diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called Infantile Myelo-fibrosis. This particular disorder forms scarring in the bone marrow and it prevents the marrow from producing essential red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
This disorder is extremely rare and there is no treatment for such patients except for a Bone Marrow Transplant. This is the only medical option available to keep Ashish alive. Ashish has undergone a great deal of suffering since first admitted at Texas Children’s hospital on September 26, 2005. He has been in and out of the hospital, first admitted at Texas Children’s hospital on September 26, 2005. requiring transfusions, fighting infections, undergoing bone marrow biopsy’s and surgeries. He has to check his blood levels every week and needs transfusions regularly. In spite of the pain he has gone through he has an incredible inner strength that is portrayed in his beaming smile and good nature. While we pray for a miracle his only medical hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant.
We are urging everyone in our community to please pray for Ashish and come to a bone marrow drive and see if you can save Ashish's life. A match for Asian Indians will be another Asian Indian only. Other races are not a match to Indians. Unfortunately there are very few Asian Indians in the National Donor Registry. Joining the Donor registry is free for Asian Indians. There are many Indian Children who die of different blood disorders because they cannot find a Donor on time. We plan to have registration drives in all major cities in the United States and Canada. Join the registry and take a simple blood test and that will tell us if you can help save Ashish’s life.
We need about 10,000 new potential donors to join the registry to find one potential match that could save this little baby's life.
Bone Marrow donation is not like donating a Kidney or another organ. There are no long-term side effects for the donor. See Medical Information for details on donating Bone Marrow.
We currently do not have a donor. We need an Asian Indian donor. Other races are not a match to Indians. Unfortunately there are very few Asian Indians in the Donor registry. Joining the Donor registry is free for Asian Indians. There are many Indian Children who die of different blood disorders because they cannot find a Donor on time.
Humanity First USA is a 100% volunteer disaster relief and human development organization whose teams have responded to disasters after Hurricane Katrina and Rita, the Asian Tsunami, the Pakistan Earthquake, the Kansas Tornadoes as well as the recent Peru Earthquake.
