July 11th 2021 O.A.

Bone Marrow Registry

Saturday July 3rd was a fundraising event at Tanaka Farms in Irvine.

The event was held by Orange Coast Optimist for A3M, an organization that conducts bone marrow registrations.

More than 30,000 people are diagnosed with blood related disease every year in the US.
Matches are likely to be found when the patient and donor are the same nationality however, Asian donors are scarce compared to other races at the National Marrow Donor Program where many patients seek for help.

Julie Im was diagnosed with Aplastic anemia when she was 19 years old.

It has been 10 years since and she can finally have a bone marrow transplant.

Finding matches for patients with mixed parents are even more difficult, and urgent actions are being taken to get the community’s understanding.

Any healthy individual aging from 18 to 44 can sign up as a donor.
Please visit A3M’s website for details about registration.

About 250 people came to the event and enjoyed live music and dance performances.