IndiaPost.com - Acknowledging superheroes in bone marrow drive

BUENA PARK: Sunday, April 1, the South Asian Task Force held a Bone Marrow Drive at the Jain temple in Buena Park. The entire Jain temple, including President Ashok and Dr Nitin Shah (who announced our donor drive), were very supportive. Volunteers brought gifts for one of our young patients, Urmi, who attended the event with her family.

Sonali made a card especially for Urmi with messages from volunteers. This program relies so much on the goodness and kindness of others. Every donor registers because they want to save another's life -- they are real superheroes. Some of the names of the heroes from that day were, Sonali, Rahul, Mumta, Dustin, Nirali, Minal, Arti, Biba and Manuri.

Sixty new donors were added to the national database with each new donor compelled to be apart of saving Urmi and other patients like her waiting to be that match. Sometimes I'm scared that I will go to a drive, and no one will care and there will not be enough help. The need is so great to sign up more donors, especially in the South Asian communities. The cry to save patients is so loud. But without enough people to match our patients, I wonder if our cry is heard. Delivering this message alone is not possible. I have actually now been here one year.

After SATF has recruited approximately over 1400 donors, I reflect on this year and am thankful for all the places that have hosted SATF drives and of the support from every community. Love and support have come from the Sikh, Hindu, Jain, Sri Lankan, Muslim, Indian, Pakistani, Ismali, Swami Narayan communities.

The A3M staff and volunteers work long and hard with the hope that every patient will find a match. Madhuri, who by virtue of trying to save her husband's life ignited the South Asian Task Force, is an inspiration. Thanks to Enisha for all the hard work and effort she's put in. I know she remembers every patient and worked hard with the intention to save them. Not all patients make it but their memories remind us to keep working as hard as we can to find one more match for one more person.

Special thanks to India Post for always being so supportive and helping share stories of the many patients who are desperately searching. Our patients and our staff want to acknowledge all those volunteers who have participated in this Seva (service) to save lives: Uma, Sukh, Manuri, Biba, Sai, Yadvinder, Raj T, Raj S, Dr Prabhakar, Venkat, Srujan, Gyan, Purnima, Priti, Preeti, Bicky, Z, Peter, Prabhat, Darshana, Shah, Dr Deo, Dr Prasad, Jasmine, Parry, Upen, Supun, Anton, Sai, Dr. Kapoor, Palani, Rakesh, Nitin Patel, Dilip Patel, Yuthika, Mushtaque, Kiran, Jubin, Shubhada, Ravi, Meera, Anchal, Farhat, Stephanie, India Post, RK promotions, Geeta, Mo, Simran, Rakesh, Upen, Minal, Sanjiv, Prince, Srujan, Venkat, Pavan, Ritu, Jasmine A, and Jasmine K. Thanks to all the organizations that allowed us to have bone marrow drives: Malibu Temple, Swaminarayan Temple, Sri Lanka America Association of Southern California, Islamic Center of Orange County, Jain Center, UCSD Delta Phi Omega, UCSD Beta Chi Theta, UCSD, UCI Indian Club, UCI Sikh Student Association, Artwallah, American Telegu Association, Jakara, The Federation of Gujarati Associations of Southern California. Buena Park Gurdwara, Shila Patel, Sri Lanka foundation, Rukus Avenue, Be the Cause, Bhindi Jewellers, Santan Dharma Temple,UCR AISA, BAPS Care, NetIP, Myindianplace.com , Venkat Tamma, UCLA Indian Student Union, Valley Hindu Temple, Irvine Mandir, ISA Cal Poly, Pomona, Arun Chakladar, Mahua Chowdhuri, Aruna Chabra, FIA, Friends of Pakistan, India Cultural Center, Sikh Center of Orange County, Guru Ram Das Ashram, South Asian American Films and Art Association. UCI, UCLA, UCSD, Lambda Phi Epsilon.