Posted on 05/29/2009 5:35:18 PM PDT by Bushwacker777
"HAYWARD, Calif. – If Nick Glasgow were white, he would have a nearly 90 percent chance of finding a matching bone marrow donor who could cure his leukemia.
But because the 28-year-old bodybuilder is one-quarter Japanese, his doctor warned him the outlook was grim. Glasgow's background would make it almost impossible to find a match, which usually comes from a patient's own ethnic group.
The doctor "didn't say it was slim-to-none. He didn't say it would be hard. He said 'zero chance,'" Glasgow's mother, Carole Wiegand, recalled with tears in her eyes. "When Nick heard that, it sent him plummeting."
At a time when the number of multiracial Americans is rising, only a tiny fraction of donors on the national bone-marrow registry are of mixed race. The National Marrow Donor Program is trying to change that by seeking more diverse donors for patients suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases.
"The truth is, when people of different backgrounds marry and produce offspring, it creates more types that are harder to match," said Michelle Setterholm, the program's director of scientific services. "The probability just gets lower when you have people of mixed ancestral DNA.""
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
That’s very sad.
“I just keep thinking, `Please, everyone, get into that database,’” his mother said. “I just know there’s a match out there somewhere for him.”
How sad, I hope this encourages more people to have their bone marrow typed so they can possibly save someone’s life.
If whites were not so darn generous and caring, we would not have this problem. Funny if Nick was 100% Japanese or black, would he have the same 90% chance?
I’ve heard this before. But it’s strange considering scientists are saying now that everybody is essentially African. Makes you wonder which set of scientists are right.
Technically that is true, but it is small differences in DNA of marrow (imagine blood typing but with far more variances). Bone Marrow transplants are far more difficult than blood transplants as even slight differences could risk rejection.
It isn’t about ‘generosity or caring’, it is just simple statistics of reducing rejection chances.
Eh what? It says he's just 1/4 Japanese. So he's not white? Obama is "BLACK" even though he's only 1/2 white! It's so confusing.
Does anyone know if a 1/2 Japanese 1/2 Caucasian can provide a match?
Or does it have to be 1/4 J and 3/4 C?
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