Message to me:
Hi Kayla –
My name is Kate McDermott and I work in public relations at Be The Match, which is a non-profit that manages the world’s largest and most diverse marrow donor registry. We connect patients diagnosed with blood cancers, like leukemia, or other blood disorders with genetically matched donors, willing to donate life-saving blood stem cells or bone marrow to a patient in need.
I’m reaching out to share the story of a 7-year-old boy named Ryan. Ryan loves playing with his twin sister, his cats Sonic & Peaches, and playing Fortnite with his cousins. He is also battling an aggressive form of leukemia and will need a blood stem cell transplant as part of his treatment. Ryan currently does not have a matched donor available on the Be The Match registry or any other registries worldwide. I’m wondering if you’d be willing to share Ryan’s story with your social media audience and encourage them to sign up as donors on his behalf? It’s easy to register online and a simple social share can go a long way towards helping Ryan and other patients like him find a match.
Ryan is of Caucasian and Vietnamese heritage, this makes it more difficult for him to find a match because blood stem cell matching is based on ethnicity, not blood type. For example, a patient of Vietnamese heritage has only a 46% chance of finding a match on the donor registry. Give Ryan’s mixed race heritage, that percentage chance may be even lower. This makes it that much more urgent for as many people to sign up as possible – you never know where Ryan’s match may come from!
Please let me know if you’d be interested in sharing – if you could include this link for people to register in your post that would be so helpful: http://join.bethematch.org/match4ryan
I’m also happy to provide you with additional details and photos of Ryan if you’d like! Thank you so much for considering our life-saving mission.
Best,
Kate McDermott
Public Relations Specialist
500 N 5th St, Minneapolis, MN 55401-1206
Phone: (763) 406-8711 Cell: (612) 280-2616
Please help spread the news! #match4ryan
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