Hello dear friends and family, welcome to my donor circle. You can contribute in three ways:

1. Join the registry! Order a kit for $60 if you’re 36+ or for free if you’re under 35
2. Make a cash donation to support the cause
3. Amplify on socials
4. Contact me if you'd like to help with organizing/social strategy

Gift of Life connected me to Mason, who was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anemia when he was 9. Once they confirmed I was a match, they flew me to DC to donate bone marrow and took care of all of the logistics. Mason is now 13 and thriving! See his story here: https://vimeo.com/1187452632/edd4fdc46c

(The header photo is Mason, me, and his family meeting for the first time. <3)

Modern media has led people to believe that donating is super painful. It isn't. 90% of donations are stem cells, which are similar to a blood plasma donation. No surgery at all. Bone marrow donations do involve surgery, but are nothing like the movies portray them! You go under for 20 minutes and wake up sore, but I was fully active and running again within 3 weeks. 

Bone marrow and stem cell matches are based on HLA factors, which means matches most often happen within the same ethnicity. Minorities are significantly under-represented, and children of mixed heritage are extremely unlikely to find a match outside of their close families. If, god forbid, Ollie were ever to need a match, his chances of finding someone would be vanishingly small. 

I ask that you encourage all the young people in your life (18-35 is the ideal demographic) to sign up to the registry! It's a quick cheek swab that you can mail in. The chances of being a good match do diminish as one ages, so if you'd prefer to donate to the cause instead of joining the registry yourself, we welcome that as well. Gift of Life is run efficiently and consistently gets top marks by charity rankings.

ALSO. If you're awesome at social media, I could use some help amplifying my testimonial. I've been scheming with the organization to build a social media playbook and help out with analytics and such. :-) Please contact me if you'd like to help with social strategy! 

Thank you for helping with a cause that's near and dear to my heart. And bones! :p

Love, Jin

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Gift of Life Marrow Registry’s mission is to save the lives of people who need a blood stem cell or marrow transplant to have a second chance at life. A transplant from a matching donor can save someone diagnosed with blood cancer like leukemia or lymphoma, an inherited immune disorder like Primary Immunodeficiency or Hyper IgM, and more than 75 other blood diseases like sickle cell and aplastic anemia.

Because stem cell compatibility follows ancestry, for transplants to work, the donor and recipient must have matching immune factors called Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA). When you swab your cheek to join Gift of Life, those swabs are tested for HLA results and stored in an international database so that patients around the world can find matching donors and be saved. Your personal data remains confidential; the only thing they see is your specific HLA makeup.

There are three ways you can help this donor circle:

1. If you are between 18 and 35 years old and in general good health, click above on the blue Join Registry button to order a swab kit to be sent to your home today. Those 36+ are asked to please fund their kit processing. Join the registry, and you could be our next lifesaving donor!
2. Each swab kit costs $60 in laboratory fees for testing, so if you click on the Give to Circle button, you can sponsor someone’s kit or give the amount of your choice. Every dollar matters.
3. Share this circle with others. Click on the gray Share button to post on Facebook or Twitter (now called X) or copy the link to share on other sites.

To the right, you’ll also see a button called “Subscribe.” Click there to get updates! Every time a match or a transplant sponsored by this circle happens, you’ll get a short email to let you know about our success.

Thank you for visiting our Donor Circle. Gift of Life cannot do this lifesaving work without your support.