As The Sunflower Fund and need for registration continues
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A couple months back I wrote about a Cassie Buchanan and her need for a bone marrow transplant. Given the rarity of finding a perfect match, I highlighted the need for people to go in and register, in the hope of finding a match.

A very close old friend of mine from school (all the way since junior school), Craig Banks, is the most recent case I have come across. "Banksie" has beaten cancer a number of times before and he is a living breathing example of smiling in the face of adversity. He punished it more than once and went on to get married and claim himself an Iron Man medal. He really makes me laugh when I see him - you'd never know what the guy has had to deal with (not referring to the marriage part!). Phenomenal.

But those little nymph nodes have reared their ugly little heads and are trying to test our boy again. No problem - he'll just punish another chemo session and move on to step two. Unfortunately step two requires a bone marrow match and transplant . This is the same situation Cassie was in.

And that is why, again, we are stressing the importance of getting registered, in the hope of finding a match.

This is the information from the South African Bone Marrow Registry on how to get it done.

- Contact their toll-free call centre between 09h00 and 16h00 Monday to Friday on 0800 12 10 82. They will help you out and let you know where to go.

- Tests are done by the Pathcare and Ampath labs in the Western Cape and by the SA National blood Service in Gauteng and KZN

- Registration take just two teaspoons of blood. They don't take shavings of your bones or anything! It's quick and painless.

- Those of you living outside of South Africa should check out www.bmdw.org - they have offices all over the world and have over 11 MILLION donors on their database!

Thanks team.

And Banksie, keep on truckin', pal!

CLICK HERE FOR INFO PACK WITH FAQ's
(Word doc)

Seth Rotherham

Editor
2oceansvibe.com
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