Urgent Appeal - Save the life of an HBS Alum
Bone marrow drive on Saturday, June 22nd
Dear HCT Toronto Community,
Today we write asking for your help in saving the life of an HBS alum. Nina Polvanich Louie, HBS '07, wife of Matt Louie, HBS ’06, and loving mother of 3-year old Donovan, is looking for a bone marrow donor. She has been fighting lymphoma since September and now only has 2 months left to find a match for a bone marrow transplant. She is currently undergoing her 12th round of chemo. Lymphoma can be treated, but Nina has not found a match in the registry. Because of her Asian heritage, finding a match has been very challenging.
A number of Harvard communities around the world are hosting bone marrow drives across the country to help Nina and many others in need. It is times like these that Harvard can be transformational and make a difference.
You can find out more information at www.savenina.com.
We would like to inform you that there will be a bone marrow drive in Toronto on Saturday, June 22, 2013, 3-6 PM local time at Toronto Chinese Community Church, 100 Acadia Ave. Markham, ON. L3R 5A2. We encourage you to come and register (the cheek swab takes 5 minutes) and please bring any friends, family, co-workers of yours between 18-44 years of age, particularly those of Asian descent. Nina's chances of finding a match go up significantly when we target Chinese and Thai populations. If you are not Chinese or Thai, we would still urge you to attend as you never know who could end up being a match.
If you cannot attend this bone marrow drive and want to help, you have 2 more options:
• Sign up for the bone marrow registry personally to see if you could be a match for Nina. There are links at www.savenina.com to learn more about being tested at a drive or a simple at-home test via a mail-in kit
• Reach out to your friends and family and ask them to (a) register themselves and (b) spread the word through their own networks.
We thank you for your time and look forward to seeing you on Saturday, June 22nd.
Please see Nina's Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/ninaneedsyou for information on future drives.
Thank You,
The HCT Executive