I Don't Think I've Ever Cried at Work...

...although there are times where I've looked at some of my peoples' work; and I probably should have...;)

scanning through my email...I check my newly minted gmail account and there is one email under "Spam"...I check it out wondering what "one" email is so bad that it got reverted to "Spam"....

so, here's the email....

This message is very dear and true to both Pia and I. As we started this journey, we never would have imagined the outpour of everyone’s commitment in making a difference for this cause and us. As we carefully educate individuals who want to make a difference in saving someone’s life by being a potential donor match, we hope that these individuals will also be committed and available to donate stem cells/bone marrow when called upon.

Well our dream has come true, Pia has a donor match.  Not just any match, but an identical match…it sounds too good to be true, but we defeated the odds against us.  You see our chance for a match was 1 in 20,000 to 1 in a 100,000.  Let alone 1 in a million for an identical match.  I would like to personally thank everyone of you for all your sacrifices you made over the last 14 weeks for our cause, let alone the sheer dedication commitment you’ve made to Pia and all the other patients that need HOPE to get them through to the next day.

There was an individual who once told me early on that “Don’t hold your breath, as you will never find a match.  You haven’t found one in two years, so why do you think you will find one now” said a certain NMDP representative.  Well, no hard feelings, but my reply today is “ You should get to know my community better, see what we see, feel what we feel”.

At matchpia.org, our strategy, was to launch a very effective campaign that can touch everyone emotionally, whether you are a male or a female, a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian in our South Asian community.  It doesn’t matter anymore, as the barriers of religion, needed to be broken-down in order to save lives in our community. Now the only thing that matters, is the compassion for HUMANITY, and all our commitment to sustain it.

As we enter this next phase of treatment, we are very cautious, as we have only addressed 2 of the 4 essential steps of this journey (1. Find a donor, 2. Convince that donor to donate, 3. Survive the transplant, and 4. Post transplant survival), we have so far accomplished steps 1 and 2.

So, as we continue to thank you all, we would like to share two themes about our community that was so evident in our campaign.

1)      Total “act of kindness by strangers”…so many of you didn’t even know us or had a clue on what to do, and how to do it, but were kind enough to give us a chance to provide you an understanding of how to do a donor drive…you took a chance on us…complete strangers whom you did not know.
2)      The notion “If you educate Humanity, Humanity will rise to the occasion”…this campaign has demonstrated that once people were educated on what bone marrow is, and the process involved to save a LIFE…the choice is simple.

So what’s next, well Pia and I thought long and hard what to do, and we decided to continue our efforts with Matchpia.org, in bringing awareness on the importance of getting members of our South Asian Community tested.  You see, complete strangers took a chance on us, and we will continue to do the same for all the other 35 South Asian patients (I personally speak to about 8 of the families everyday).  As you view our website, you may have noticed that we have recruited 12, 442 donors, in 188 donor drives, in 83 cites, in 14 weeks…. according to the NMDP, that will facilitate 6 South Asian transplants a year for the next 10 years.

So we are so proud of each and everyone of you who joined our campaign, whether you volunteered for the day, spread the news to your friends and family or got tested at a drive…YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE for Pia and all the other 35 South Asian patients.

On a final, but a very important note, I would like to encourage everyone of you to join our efforts in enabling our campaign to continue, so far we have personally spent over $83, 846 to support the marketing efforts and donor drives for this campaign.  A few weeks ago, we have started the “South Asian Marrow Foundation Fund”, with the Marrow Foundation in Washington, DC.  Now anyone can contribute to this fund and get a charitable tax deduction (tax exempt # 41-1704734), as our fund is housed under the Marrow Foundation tax-exempt status.

The proceeds of the funds will enable us to conduct MORE donor drives in the South Asian Community, defray some of the additional tissue typing cost related to further testing for patients and some of the additional expenses in finding donor matches for South Asian patients.  Please help us to raise the funds we need to effectively continue this campaign (if you have a matching program at your employer for charitable contributions, please let your HR manager you want the funds to be matched to the “South Asian Marrow Foundation”).

Again, thank you so much for all your kind generosity, determination and sacrifices for the last 14 weeks.  All your efforts allowed Pia to get her “one in a million chance”, at a miracle.

Tim & Pia

Then I went to the website...read a few notes, started to smile, and decided to click on this.... 

And for some reason, I started crying...but the strange thing is...I rarely cry when I'm sad...mostly when I'm happy...it was so uplifting, and such a well presented video, that I just started tearing up...strangely enough, I was proud...felt good...and I didn't even *do* anything...I guess I just was just 'emotioning' vicariously through whoever the hero was that stepped up and agreed to be tested...

Not to mention that Pia is an immediate inspiration to anyone who meets her...virtually or in person, I am sure...my heart goes out to all families who have to overcome these types of obstacles in their lives...

A great email, great story...I remember signing up on their website some weeks ago...I plan on getting tested at my mom's office when I go home for Thanksgiving - maybe for someone else down the road, I too, can be a hero...and all of YOU should try and get tested to potentially be a hero to someone else...

...what an empowering feeling that must be - to be able to save someone's life...

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

- Margaret Mead

and with that...back to life...back to reality....(meeting in 3 minutes)