I’ve been watching the NHL Draft for almost three hours now.  The top moment was not Edmonton’s top pick Taylor Hall.  It was when the St. Louis Blues selected Jaden Schwartz with the 14th pick.  During his interview afterward, Jaden made it a point to say hello to his sister, 20-year-old Mandi.  Mandi is in the hospital in Regina, Saskatchewan, battling leukemia, and searching for a bone marrow donor.

Mandi is a hockey player at Yale.  What was so nice was how articulate her 18-year-old younger brother was in giving the shoutout.  It was just enough to let viewers know how much he cared about her, and what she was going through, without disrupting the flow of the interview.  That took a lot of poise and maturity beyond his years.  The Twitter world went nuts after he said it.

Courtesy: David Silverman/dspics.com

And Jaden did something else, he got the plug in for how viewers can help.  Again another tricky thing, but Jaden delivered the website address for potential donors to register.  Honor Jaden’s sister like he did.  Who knows?  You could be the match that saves her life, or the life of someone else.  Log on to www.becomemandishero.org.

I just returned from a whirlwind trip that included two speaking engagements in 12 hours, 350 miles miles apart.  The first was to Rotarians in Boxborough, Massachusetts on Friday night.  As soon as I finished I got in the car and drove seven hours through the night to speak Saturday morning to bone marrow transplant survivors and their families at Temple University in Philadelphia.  I shared with them my story of being a bone marrow donor and writing a book about it, The Marrow in Me.

Receiving Paul Harris Fellow Award in Boxborough, MA

The trip was physically exhausting, but I got such a lift out of telling and hearing stories of hope from others.  Villanova Football Coach Andy Talley told the story of his star football player, Matt Szcur, who turned up as a bone marrow match for a one year girl he’d never met.

Matt Szczur, Donor for Infant Girl

Joy Janice, searching for donor

 I had been riding the trip’s high for a couple of days until I got an email yesterday that made my heart sink.  The email introduced me and dozens of others on a long email trail to Joy Janice of suburban Philadelphia.  Joy had breast cancer a couple of years ago and beat it with the usual treatments which included chemotherapy.  Sadly she has cancer again.  It’s not breast cancer, it’s leukemia; the unfortunate complication from the chemo. 

Mitch and Joy

Joy doesn’t have brothers and sisters, so she’s searching for a matching stem cell donor.  So far no luck in the registries.  Be a hero, register as a potential donor today.  Believe me, there’s no greater joy than receiving the phone call that you’ve turned up as the chosen match to join someone on what could be a lifesaving journey.  Matt Szczur I’m sure would tell you the same.    Click on the link for the Be The Match website, http://join.marrow.org.  After completing the qualifying questions(toward the end of the process), enter JJ1605 into the field labeled “Promo Code”.

A cheek swabbing donor kit will be mailed to you.  I like to say everyone is a match for someone somewhere in the world.  It’s just a question of whether that person will get sick, and whether you’ll be in a registry.  Swab away.  It would mean a lot to me, and I know it would mean the world to Joy and those who care about her.

Sandy & Chris Pablo

My hanai brother, Chris Pablo, was memorialized yesterday.  It was a final public sendoff for a man who is the heart and soul of my book, The Marrow in Me.  The picture on the cover is of me recreating Chris Pablo’s great golf ball discovery.  For those who need a refresher, or those who are new to my blog and The Marrow in Me story, Chris found a special ball in his basket at the driving range some 14 years ago.  The ball had the words BEAT LEUKEMIA stamped on the side.   Chris was diagnosed with the same disease just weeks prior.  Finding the ball gave him hope that he would find a cure for his cancer.  He did, with a bone marrow transplant that came from a man missing most of his legs.

By the time we got around to creating the cover shot of The Marrow in Me, Chris wasn’t well enough to do it.  So I did it for him.  We’d lose Chris a month after the book was released, but he had a chance to read through much of it.  He called to playfully scold me, “You kept me up all night and made me cry,” he said a few months back.

I’d be honored if you’d read the book to get to know the man behind the video clip below.  Without Chris I never would have been a bone marrow donor myself.  And because of Chris sharing his story, 86 other people searching for a bone marrow donor got their match and went to transplant too.  The book is inspiring, witty, tragic and triumphant.  Some have compared it to Tuesdays with Morrie.  A sizable chunk of the proceeds is going to cancer treatment and research programs, including The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry, which played a key role in Chris’s transplant and mine.  And if you really want to honor Chris, please click here to register as a potential bone marrow donor.  That’s probably the best way we can honor his memory.  Aloha and Mahalo, Kevin.       

Watch Video Clip of Chris Pablo Memorial

I start most days with the newspaper.  It’s a habit and it’s my homework.  Much of what I read I’ll be talking about in some way, shape, or form later that night on Comcast Sportsnet Central.  I usually read the sports page while bobbing up and down on the elliptical machine at the gym.  But sometimes you have to change the routine and that includes the reading material.  Today I saved the sports page for last.  When I read Bob Ryan’s column, I almost fell off.

Boston Globe Sports Columnist Bob Ryan

Bob wrote a column that had little to do with sports and everything to do with life and the mighty struggle to stay alive.  The story was about one of Bob’s favorite athletes over the years, former Boston College and Pro Basketball Player Danya Abrams.  Actually the story was more about Danya’s 11-year-old daughter Tatyana, a sixth grade schoolgirl, who has acute myelogenous leukemia and is desperately looking for a bone marrow donor.  If you don’t know the dyanmics of how bone marrow matching and transplants work, let me be the educator.  Finding a match goes almost exclusively along racial and ethnic lines.  And that’s a problem because Tatyana is black and there are far fewer available minority donors than white, as much as 30% fewer.

Tatyana Abrams, Looking for Bone Marrow Donor, Photo Courtesy of Teresa Herbert

None of these statistics is news to me.  I wrote a book about it, The Marrow in Me,which details my unlikely journey to becoming a bone marrow donor.  I specifically highlight the unfortunate minority donor shortage.  When Bob came in to Sportsnet tonight to talk about the Celtics and Miami Heat game I gave him a copy of my book and told him the story of how I became an anonymous donor for a 16-year-old boy who had acute myelogenous leukemia, just like Tatyana Abrams.  I couldn’t believe the look on his face.  I’m sure it was kind of like the look on my face when I read his column in the Boston Globe.  I saw my life in print, but in reverse.  I was honored and humbled to be a part of a young man’s life, if only for a short time.  I’d do it again in a second and I’d love to do it for someone like Tatyana, if only it were that easy.

Do me a favor, please come to Tatyana Abrams’ registration drive this weekend January 10 at Butler Elementary School, 1 Patrick Clark Drive, Avon, Massachusetts from noon to 4pm.  Or, if you can’t make it in person, you can register to become a potential donor by clicking here, www.bethematch.org.  A simple cheek swab will start the process.  You are a match for someone, somewhere in the world.  It’s simply a question of whether they’ll get sick and whether you’ll be reachable.  And if you’re a minority of any kind, you’re especially needed.  Let’s not leave any doubt though about who’s needed most in this situation–African Americans.  The link above will give you information on how to get a testing kit sent to you for free.

 And if you really want to know what you’re getting yourself into, if you are lucky enough to get the call and mission of a lifetime, please read my book.   The Marrow in Me will answer all your relevent questions about what being a bone marrow donor is really like.  There has never been a book written about bone marrow donation between strangers until now.   Giving your bone marrow to someone else is courageous and generous.  But you know what?  It’s like a gift is given back to you.  I’ve experienced no greater satisfaction in my life than having that chance to share a part of me with someone else. 

The golf ball that started a revolution and the man who found it, Chris Pablo

We lost a very good friend who found a most interesting golf ball that took on a life of its own years ago.  Chris Pablo died in Honolulu yesterday at the age of 59, from complications of cancer unrelated to his original leukemia diagnosis back in 1996.  I’ve blogged about Chris before and I wrote a book about his life and mine called The Marrow in Me.  I won’t pretend that everyone has been with me from the beginning, so I’ll include a little background.  

Chris is the man who found an amazing golf ball that sparked my journey to becoming a bone marrow donor and author of The Marrow in Me.

 Click here for Chris Pablo Tribute.

Chris found the golf ball in his basket years ago.  It was old, discolored and had the words beat leukemia stamped on the side.  Chris was diagnosed with leukemia just three weeks prior.  Together and with the help of plenty of others in the Hawaii media, Chris and I told the Hawaii Community about his efforts to find an unrelated bone marrow donor.   People couldn’t get enough of the golf ball hook.  Chris’s story inspired other leukemia patients like two-year-old Alana Dung to come forward.  The community responded and largely because of Chris and Alana, 30-thousand people registered as potential bone marrow donors.  Eighty-six people went to transplant, including me; for a 16-year-old boy I’d never met.  Chris found his lifesaving match from a legless man who saw the media coverage.  Alana found her match in an international registry.

Alana Dung, inspired 30,000 people to register as potential donors

Chris had been sick for the last several months, but well enough a few months back to come to Boston to visit colleges with his youngest son Zack and family.   He called me and told me we should get together.  I suspected it might be our last chance to see each other.  It was.  I was so glad to see him one last time and my young daughters were thrilled to finally meet the man Daddy’s been writing about in The Marrow in Me for all these years.  My picture of Chris and my girls sitting on the steps of the old Boston Police Station is one of my treasures and it’s included in the book with a note directly to Chris in the epilogue.  Before the book went to print I emailed him the pdf file.  “You kept me up all night and made me cry,” he said when he called the next day.

When Chris took a turn for the worse in October I rushed him one of the first printed copies of my book The Marrow in Me.  I wanted him to hold it in his hands before his time.  His wife Sandy says he did.  That just meant the world to me and so did his friendship.  Without that crazy golf ball I never would have become a bone marrow donor and certainly wouldn’t have written a book about it.

L to R, Amanda Walsh, Chris Pablo, Samantha Walsh. Boston, August 2009

Chris taught me so much about obligation, “the obligation of survivorship” as he called it.  He taught me it’s okay and effective to allow yourself to be vulnerable in front of people.  When a man tells you something like that with tears in his eyes, it’s profound and people listen.  Chris’s courage and love for his family planted the seed in me to be the type of father and husband I hope I’ve become.  I could go on and on, but you get the point.  We lost a very good man and for that I am so sad.    

Chris Pablo and Kevin Walsh, Washington, September 2008

Krissy Kobata, Searching for Hapa Bone Marrow Donor

The movies are about the only place where you get a taste of someone pleading for their life.  It’s usually an uncomfortable scene with someone having a gun to their head.   This is different.  This is real.  Above is my friend Krissy Kobata.  Below she’s pleading for her life in print.  I want you to read it.  But before you do I want you to imagine how tough it would be for you if you had to plead for your life.  If my life was on the line I’d sit down at my computer, like I’m doing right now, and bang something out.  But I’ll tell you this, I’d be a mess by the time I was done.

Krissy sent out a note at about midnight.  I’m guessing she worked on it in her head, her heart and with her hands for quite some time before she put it out.  She’s probably exhausted from the effort.

I’d like you to do something.  If you know someone who’s Asian, particularly Japanese and especially half-Japanese and white, I want you to track them down and lassoo them right away.  I want you to tell them to register as a potential bone marrow donor with the simple instructional codes Krissy lists in her note below.  For the medically-challenged bone marrow matching goes almost exclusively along racial and ethnic lines.  And this is where the racial gap once again presents itself in American healthcare.  There’s a huge shortage of minorities on available donor rolls.  Krissy’s best chance at a match is someone who’s the same mix as she is–half Japanese, half white.   There could be matches outside that orbit, but her specific mix is her best shot.  But we’ll take all comers.  Come as you are, who you are.   There have been matches outside of race, though not nearly as many as within. 

Now, read Krissy’s note below:

Let’s make it hapa’n.”

Dear Friends and Family,
I’m writing for a few reasons. The first and foremost is to say thank you. Thank you for all of your support over the past year and a half. One thing I know is that I would not be where I am today without all the love, support and help that has come forward.
With that said, it has been one year and nine months since I was diagnosed and I am still looking for my match. While it’s been a long road, we have been inspired along the way from meeting other patients and their families fighting the same fight. We’ve also had good news that others have found their matches through all of our efforts. These are the things that I keep reminding myself- lives have been saved.
Unfortunately, this summer, and even up until two weeks ago, we experienced the darker side of this disease. I was heartbroken when I learned that three patients who I had gotten to know through all of this lost their battle. Two more had their diseases progress into aggressive Leukemia. I can’t quite describe the sadness I felt in my heart when I heard the news. To be honest, a lot of it was also fear. I’m afraid that this nightmare could become my reality.
This is why I am pleading again for your help. I am going to find my match, but I need each and every one of you to help me. My family and I are in a race against time and we will not lose this battle.
At this point, I’ve had several opportunities to speak to groups about bone marrow registration and donation. I’ve also had the great opportunity to be on local news and Extra TV to try to spread knowledge. Each time, I am asked the same two questions: “Are you scared?” and “How does it affect your life?” My answers are always the same, “Yes.” and “Every day I wake up, I hope today is the day that I find my match.

Many of you have asked me to let you know how and when we need your help. That time is now!

Ways to help:
1. If you aren’t registered yet, we now have a FREE online registration code: http://www.facebook.com/l/29520;join.bethematch.org/swab4krissy

2. If you have joined, please send this on to any and all of your friends/family and encourage them to register as well (the more hapas, the better my chance)

3. If you are unable to register and would like to donate to the Team Krissy cause, you can now do so by submitting donations to Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (non-profit)
a. Please note, you must put a note on the check that it is for “Team Krissy” non-profit
b. Checks can be sent c/o Patti Nomura (my aunt) at 3749 Lime Ave., Long Beach, CA 90807)

4. We are also working on organizing a run/walk 5K/10K in the spring with Be the Match as well as producing a PSA, public service announcement, to take our message nationally
a. If you know anyone that can help with these activities or have connections with people that would be willing to be a part of these efforts please let us know and we can provide more details

5. If you would like to host a drive at your company, and it is permitted, please let us know as we can help assist in this and A3M or City of Hope will organize everything

I know these are a lot of things to ask, however, if you can do just one of them, it will make a difference. I’ve never taken for granted the amazing friends and family that I have, so thank you for putting forth the energy and effort to help me find my match.

I hope to update you all with good news in the near future.
Love always,
krissy

Meredith Broussard, Author

I got an email from a long lost writing friend of mine Meredith Broussard.  Mere is something else.  She’s the editor of The Encyclopedia of Failed Exes and The Dictionary of Failed Relationships, which despite the negative connotations are not downers but rather witty reads.   Meredith shared with me an email about a gal pal she has in Southern California who’s struggling to find a bone marrow donor for her pre-leukemic condition.

Krissy Kobata with Alex Band Rocker Dude

So I tracked down Krissy who’s a cute 27-year-old bi-racial gal pal in Southern California to find out what’s up.   Here’s the deal, Krissy has been struggling to find a matching unrelated bone marrow donor for several months.  Hers is the face of a rather familiar struggle, people of mixed race looking for someone with the same racial medley as them.  Krissy’s dad is Japanese and her mom is white with roots in Scandanvia and Scotland.  Matches outside your racial orbit are rare but they’ve happened.  I wrote about one in my book The Marrow in Me.   Renee Adaniya, of Japanese Okinawan descent, turned up as a perfect match for a white military man named Butch “Duel” Lane in Tennessee.  Four years after covering the story of Renee on Hawaii TV, Renee called me with word that I was a bone marrow match for a 16-year-old boy with leukemia.  That’s me and Renee below.

I love to look for good stories because it’s what I do.  But Krissy’s story, my personal journey to becoming a bone marrow donor and the others I wrote about in The Marrow in Me all found me, allowing me to be who I am.   

I’d like for Krissy’s current situation to be different and I’m not just going to wish for it, I’m going to work on it.  I’m starting tonight on the tube.  I’m going on a program called Broadside with Jim Braude on New England Cable News.  I’m going to tell Jim and the 3.7 million households NECN reaches about Krissy and how they can register as potential bone marrow donors.  Folks who are Asian and ”Hapa” like Krissy are STRONGLY encouraged to register, but everyone else can too.  Remember what happened to Renee and Butch?  Who’s to say it couldn’t happen again? 

To get yourself into the registry for FREE–use the link: join.bethematch.org/swab4krissy, answer a short list of questions and be sure to use swab4krissy as the promotional code so you’re not charged for the marrow typing fee.  Marrow typing typically runs about 100 bucks.  But something else, if you have the dough make a donation while you’re there.   Do the same thing at www.a3mhope.org which is the funding source behind Krissy and other Asians seeking a match through The National Marrow Donor Program.  The funding source for this is good only through the end of the year.  It’s another way to give.

Forward this link along to everyone you know.  I have a good feeling things are going to work out for Krissy.  It’s just a gut thing, something I feel in my bones.  Krissy’s story is very much like the other stories I share in The Marrow in Me.  They just kind of fell in my lap.  And when that happens, good things usually follow.  I’m just the messenger.

Kevin with Latoyia Edwards, NECN promoting The Marrow in Me

Click on video link below to see Broadside with Jim Braude on NECN.  Discussion of The Marrow in Me, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Krissy Kobata.

Play video

I’m not the only person who thinks Kareem Abdul-Jabbar missed a golden opportunity to speak up about the inequality of available medical treatment for people of color in a cause that hits very close to home for him.   Jim Braude, of Broadside with Jim Braude wants me to come on his program to talk about it.

Here’s the fuss and you heard it here first.  Last week Kareem announced he’s fighting leukemia and is in remission.  He went on CNN and talked with the LA Times.  Neither brought up the fact that minorities are vastly underrepresented on bone marrow donor rolls.  For the medically challenge, bone marrow matching and transplant to cure as many as 75 diseases goes almost exclusively along racial and ethnic lines.

Kareem probably didn’t know about the shortage of minority donors.  He doesn’t need a donor, at least not now; and hopefully he won’t ever have to.  But if he did he’d probably be facing what thousands of others in the minority community are facing, a 20-30 percent less chance of finding a donor than someone who’s white.

My issue with the omission is this:  if you’re going to make yourself the face of a cause like leukemia, you need to know what it is you’re talking about.  Fully.  I’ll let you know what else Kareem missed and I’m sure my pal Braude will have an opinion too.   Join us Thursday night at 6pm for Broadside with Jim Braude on NECN.

Jim Braude, Host of Broadside with Jim Braude

One of the greatest athletes of all time announced he’s been battling cancer for some time.   Technically Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s in remission for chronic myeloid leukemia, cancer of the blood and bone marrow.   He’s 62-years-old and has a good chance to beat it with advances in oral medicine.

I have to admit I couldn’t stand the man when I was a boy.  Most of it had to do with the fact that his Lakers beat up on my hometown 76ers.  I didn’t like his goggles and that unstoppable sky hook either.  But I’ve come to admire the man.  I am now a fan of Kareem because of what he represents–a fighting spirit and a goal to educate people about leukemia.

Who knew a 7′2″ black man and a 5′9″ white tv sportscaster had some much in common?   Why bring up race?  Because it matters in bone marrow typing and transplants.  Hopefully Kareem won’t have to get to that point, but if he did his best bet of  finding a matching bone marrow donor would be in the black community.  I know what I’m talking about.  I’ve been a bone marrow donor, researched the issue extensively, and wrote a book about it.  Unlike blood, bone marrow typing falls almost exclusively along racial and ethnic lines.

Author Kevin Walsh after having bone marrow harvested from his bones. A 16-year-old boy received Kevin's marrow in a transplant.

When one is sick with any of 75 disorders that can be treated with bone marrow transplant–leukemias being among the biggest–doctors first look within the patient’s family.  But even then there’s only about a 25-percent chance they’ll find a match from a family member.  They’ll then turn to the outside world of international bone marrow registries.  For a person of color the chance of finding an unrelated match is about 20-30 percent less than it is for someone who’s white.

Cancer doesn’t discriminate, but the numbers don’t lie.  It’s a tougher road for minorities because they’re largely underrepresented on donor rolls.  Awareness would certainly help and there’s no better time than now to put the word out about the need for more people, especially blacks, latinos and asians to take the initial steps to register as a potential bone marrow donor.  November is National Bone Marrow Donor Awareness Month.  I like to say everyone is a match for someone somewhere.  It’s just a question of whether they’ll get sick, and will you be ready to help?

To join the registry visit the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be the Match registry.