About Kethan

Ten-year-old Kethan was first diagnosed with leukemia (ALL) in 2006 at the age of four. He beat it twice but now it’s back for a third time. His doctors say his best hope for survival is a bone marrow transplant. The problem is finding a donor match. Kethan is of South Asian descent and Asian donors only make up seven percent of the bone marrow donor database.

Because the markers used in matching are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race or ethnicity. Adding more donors from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to the database increases the likelihood that all patients will find the match they need.

Since no match has been found, Kethan’s doctors are having to move forward with an alternative treatment because of no match. Unfortunately, there are thousands of stories similar to Kethan’s. Please register as a bone marrow donor and help improve the statistics for finding a bone marrow match.

So, what happens if you are a match? Once you are registered, you are in the database until your 61st birthday and could be matched at any time. Please go to www.getswabbed.org to understand more about this process and what it entails.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Sunday July 15, 2012 (DKMS, CA)
BAYVP Annual Picnic at Fremont Central Park,
Fremont, CA
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Tuesday, June 26, 2012


Dear Friends of Kethan,
My name is Alejandra Gonzalez and I am a friend of Kethan and his family.  I am organizing a group of volunteers to help with a community-wide bone marrow donor drive in Austin, Texas for Kethan and other patients, and I need your help! We will be holding a kick-off meeting on Sunday, July 8th from 4:00 pm-5:30 p.m. at the St. Andrew’s School Lower School Library. The school's address is 1112 West 31st Street, Austin, Texas, 78705.

We are working with DKMS, the world’s largest bone marrow donor center, to organize the donor drive. A representative from DKMS will be at the meeting to lead us through this process. It sounds like the process is well organized and straightforward; we just need troops on the ground to get the momentum going! Please let me know if you are able to make it to this meeting.You can contact me at teamkethan@gmail.com. Thank you!
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