Donating blood may have become a common occurrence, but for Asians, bone marrow donors are in desperately short supply  Sheri Olmom first detected something was wrong with her helth when she was pregnant with her third daughter. The doctors told her it was anemia, and suggested she consider an abortion. Olmon refused, and Harper was born without complication. Olmon received a stem cell self-transplant to beat the cancer. It was unsuccessful; she needed an outside bone marrow donor. But her chance of locating one is extremely slim because she is half Japanese and half Caucasian “ If I were (pure) Asian, I think I might have a better shot at finding a match.” She says. “But because I’m half, the variables increase so greatly that even my sister and brother don’t match me.”

  The difficulty in finding a match is directly related to genetic “marker” found I an individual’s blood cells. These markers are inherited characteristics such as eye color and hair type. The greater the chances are of a successful transplant.

  Historically, the blending of ethnicity’s within the APA(Asian Pacific American)Population has not been very common. Therefore, the  markers are very specific for each racial group. However, in cultures such as the United States where interracial marriage is becoming more common, the genetic pool becomes highly diluted making it nearly impossible to find someone with matching markers.

  For Olmon, the markers must be specific to both her Japanese and Caucasian genes. Thus, the number of potential donors is very small.

 “If I were to find a donor. I would be floored.” She says. I would be completely in shock.”

  Race is not the only factor that makes Olmon’s search for a match difficult. More than 4 million people are listed on the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) registry, but only 6 percent of that number are APAs, In a January 2000 study conducted by the NMDP, only 268 of the 9,335 marrow transplants from a non-relative were for APA patients.

  But there is hope. Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, or A#M, is a non-profit organization based in Little Tokyo dedicated to helping APAs find potential bone marrow donors. The group was formed in 1991 with the hope that if the number of potential donors increased, there would b a greater chance for APA patients to survive life -threatening blood diseases. Since its founding A3M has added more than 60,000 APAs to the NMDP registry through its marrow donor drives, which are conducted across the nation.

   Ron Balbuena fist became involved with A3M at one of these drives. He was a fifth year senior at UC Berkeley when he volunteered to have his blood tested and marrow type confidentially listed on the NMDP registry. What he did that day would ultimately change his life.

  On Sept. 11, 1997,Balbuena went to Alta Bates Hospital in Oakland, Calif., to have bone marrow extracted from his hip. Nine hours later, he was released with an aching lower back.

  Although he admits the ordeal was painful, he doesn’t want the fear of discomfort to prevent potential marrow donors from contributing.

  “You have to compare the pain that you’re going through to what this patient’s family and what the patient himself went through, and it doesn’t compare,” Balbuena says. “I’ll go through a little bit to give this boy no pain for the rest of his life.” Balbuena doesn’t know much about the boy who received his bone marrow except that he is 11 years old and lives in Malaysia. Though he has communicated with the boy and his family through cards and a phone call, Balbuena feels a close connection to the young stranger to whom he gave a second chance at life. He plans to meet the boy and his family sometime this year and wants to give them this message.

  “ I might have helped this boy have a full life, extend his life, or I might have saved his life, but this boy did a lot for me,” he says. “It was mutual, this experience. He gave me so much. When I see him, that I will tell him how much I appreciated him giving the gift of life for me.”

  Meanwhile, Olmon appreciates the gift of life while she can. After four years of different treatments, including acupuncture, herbal medication and chemotherapy, her cancer has gone into remission. But she never knows when it may come back.  Her husband and three daughters have been supportive from the start. Sydney, 10,Milan 7, and Harper,4 may not be old enough to fully understand what their mother is going through, but their love and energy helps Olmon stay positive.

  And while the chances may be unlikely, she doesn’t give up hope that she’ll find a match, the way the boy in Malaysia found Balbuena.

  “I’m pretty much living day to day, appreciating what I’ve got now. I don’t look too far in the future,” she says. “ I find that things are pretty good right now so I just kind of live in the present as much as I can.”

Asians for miracle Marrow Matches

For more information on bone marrow transplants, donations or marrow donor drives please call 1-800-A3M-HOPE. Or email a3m@ltsc.org.