Hapa « Kevin Walsh

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.

Renee Adaniya and Kevin cropped 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.