Image Credit: YouTube
24-year-old graduate student Lara Casalotti, who is Asian-white mixed race, needs a bone marrow donor. Because of her mixed racial background (her ethnic background is Chinese, Thai and Italian), her best chances of finding a suitable match would be from a person who has a similar genetic makeup. Lara is currently undergoing chemo for acute myeloid leukemia in London, and needs a bone marrow transplant by April to save her life.
Meet her parents and brother in this video:
Need For Mixed-Race Bone Marrow Donors
Unfortunately, Lara’s brother is not a match. Currently, only 3% of registered stem cell donors are of mixed-race, so if you are over 18 and multiracial, I urge you to get tested and join the registry.
Learn more at the Match4Lara website. Visit the Match4Lara Facebook page to find out about bone marrow testing drives near you — or even easier — go to this link at the Asian American Donor Program website to request an at-home testing kits they can track it specifically for Lara.
For more background on the need for multiracial bone marrow donors, please read Why Multiracials Need Bone Marrow Donors
Hi
I’m mixed Thai/Swiss living in CH. I can not order this home testing kit as i am not in the US. Is there an other possibility to check the match and no need to see the doctor?
regards
Andy, I will check with the AADP to find out!
I’m Vietnamese, Irish, Italian and French…does that matter??
Hi Leti, I think the more people who are in the registry, the better the chances of finding a match. And sadly, every once in a while I hear about other mixed-race patients who need transplants.