As you may have heard, Emru Townsend, Editor of Frames Per Second Magazine* is suffering from leukemia and is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. None of his relatives are a match, so he is relying on outside donors. We are asking you to help us encourage members of the animation community to join a bone marrow registry – you or someone you know may be the match Emru is hoping for!

Because tissue types are inherited, patients are more likely to match someone from their own race or ethnicity. As an Afro-Caribbean, Emru Townsend will be most likely to match other donors of African or Caribbean decent. So please urge anyone in your circle with this racial background to participate.

You will be added to the registry, and hopefully you will be a match for someone else who needs your donation. On any given day, more than 6,000 men, women and children are searching the National Marrow Donor Program Registry for a life-saving donor like you. These patients have leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases that can be treated by a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. For many of these patients, a transplant may be the best and only hope of a cure.

It’s Easy

In the US, registering is as easy as filling out a form, signing your name to make a commitment, and swabbing your mouth 4 times. 

Upcoming Drives

National Marrow Donor Program at Northern California Region
1330 Broadway Street
Suite #501
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 834-8500
(800) 471-4619

National Marrow Donor Program at Southern California
1231 East Dyer Road
Suite 236
Santa Ana, CA 92705
(714) 800-1600
(888) 814-8604

New York Blood Center
Special Patient Services
81 Willoughby Street
Fifth Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 797-7850
(800) NY-BLOOD ext 2
http://www.nybloodcenter.org/

For Other Locations

For other locations not listed above, please visit: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/Join_in_Person/index.html.

To Set Up a Drive in Your Area

Nationally, you can join with others, in or out of our industry, to set up a drive in your area. The National Bone Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) will help with planning and coordination of your local event, as well as administering the cheek swab test that will add participants to the Registry. To start planning your event or campaign, contact the National Bone Marrow Donor Program by e-mail at outreach@nmdp.org or call the NMDP at 1 (800) MARROW-2 (1-800-627-7692).

Emru’s Progress

To stay updated on Emru’s progress, join the Facebook group that Tamu, Emru’s sister set up: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=9635600965

*Frames Per Second Magazine was first published in 1991 as a print magazine with news and celebrates and examines all aspects of animation from conception to screenings. The magazine went to an online distribution model in 2005.