Greg Needs Your Help

After Several Years of Searching. I have finally found a couple of umbilical cord blood units that match my tissue type close enough to proceed with transplant.

Please know that my family and I in the past have never asked for monetary assistance.

However, when I have to move to Seattle for treatments, Mom & Dad are going to have to rent an apartment and make frequent commutes.

I'll have to stay up there for a minimum of six months, perhaps as long as a year. It's going to cost them at least $3000.00/month and that is a cost that their insurance won't cover. Any help we can get would be much appreciated.

US Bank will accept donations made out to "the Greg Hachey Donation account."

If people are unable to access that account through their local US Bank, they can mail it to:

Hello,

My name is Greg Hachey.

I am fourteen years old. I may have only months to live. This is why:

I have leukemia, a cancer of the blood. I underwent chemotherapy for 2 ½ years starting in May of 2000. I was in remission for fifteen months and then had a relapse. I underwent another 2 ½ years of chemo because a bone marrow donor was not found. I was in remission for 17 months after that chemo; unfortunately, the leukemia relapsed just after Thanksgiving this year 2007. This means that it is very resistant to chemo and is considered VERY HIGH RISK. The best chance for a cure for this disease is a stem-cell or bone marrow transplant.

Well I’ve found a couple of cord blood units…but read on.

Translated: that means I’ll be in Seattle for awhile (possibly up to a year).

I'm told that the likelihood of finding a match for me is like winning the lottery, but in the last couple of years, they have made some significant advances with cord blood.

The following is an excerpt from the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Web Page: Click Here:

“Source of Hope: How Cord Blood Transplants Help More Kids

By 2006, about 50 children had received cord blood transplants at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. As this source of stem cells expands, the transplant donor pool expands as well, making stem cell transplants available to a greater number of patients. This can be especially important for ethnic minorities and those who have mixed ethnicity or unusual tissue types — in all these cases, it’s more difficult to find a suitably matched donor.

Where cord blood comes from
Stem cells for a hematopoietic cell transplant can come from three sources: bone marrow, peripheral blood (the blood that circulates around your body), or the blood that remains in the umbilical cord when a mother and newborn are separated. Most cord blood is discarded. But some is collected in banks so that people who need stem cell transplants can use it.

The stem cells from cord blood are more versatile than those from bone marrow or peripheral blood, simply because the infant donor’s immune system is immature. The stem cells are relatively "uneducated" compared to cells from an older child or an adult. So there’s less likelihood of an adverse interaction between the transplanted cells and the recipient’s cells. This means that in order to be useful, stem cells from cord blood do not have to match the recipient’s tissue as closely as bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells do.

Other than the source of the stem cells, a cord blood transplant is very similar to a bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplant. The main difference is that it sometimes takes longer for the transplanted cells to engraft — to establish themselves in the recipient’s body and begin producing blood cells. Longer time to engraftment means more time without adequate numbers of the white blood cells that guard against infection.”

(Picture of my brother Chris & I.)

I am presently undergoing more intensive chemotherapy, again, and not feeling very well. Nonetheless, I am doing my best to be strong. I told my mom, “Third time’s a charm,” but to tell the truth I am a little afraid and pissed off at times.

You and your friends can make the difference between life and death for others, present and future, who suffer from this cancer. It takes just fifteen minutes of your time, a simple cheek swab will determine, if you are a match.

Please help save a life by registering with your local bone marrow & stem cell donor program.

My family: My loving dad is retired from the United States Army with over 20 years active duty.

(Picture of my Dad, Chris & I.)

My loving mother is Filipino. She too served in the United States Army. This is where they met. I love and cherish my parents and my brother dearly.

(Picture of my Mom, Chris & I.)

I am sad that my life is being threatened, for the THIRD time, by a random disease. I am far more saddened by the possibility of being separated forever, in as little as a few months, from my loving family and many friends. And I wish more than anything to continue enjoying this blessing we call Life.

A good friend of my parents has worked with my family and I to create this web site appeal. I love my family and I do not want to die. This is why I am praying and appealing to you for help.

Please browse my website to learn more about bone marrow donation, or peripheral stem cell collection, and how to register. I'll try to have more added to this site, as time allows for you to meet me a bit more, my loved ones, and my leukemia.

You might find some sadness here, but know there is happiness here, as well; because of those like you. Thank you for taking the time to visit my web page, and I hope you will be able to register as a donor, soon.

This website has more recent data:: http://www.bmtbasics.org/

At present, about 75% of the more than 6 million prospective donors listed in the donor registry of the federally-funded National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) are identified as Caucasian. The other 25% is comprised of members of all groups categorized as racial minorities (the NMDP utilizes primarily the federal racial/ethnic designations now reported by the Census Bureau) of whom some 2% are described as being of unspecified mixed heritages. -

(I fall within the 2%'er group.)

Targeted recruitment efforts started in the past decade to diversify the unrelated donor pool have resulted in increases of the percentage of registered minority group donors being currently similar to the proportion of each group in the national population. However, the numbers of donors from under-represented genetic-origin groups still needs to increase significantly in order to give any individual patient an equivalent chance to find a suitably matching donor.

According to the World Marrow Donor Association, data compiled from statistics gathered by Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide (BMDW) , showed similar patterns of disparities persisting within and across international registries , most of which are located in the Europe. On a global level ( including the US), most registered donors are said to be of northwestern European descent. Donor registries are now beginning to be developed in countries of Asia, Latin, America, and the Middle East; currently a sole registry in the continent of Africa is located in South Africa.

The increased use of cord blood for BMTs is expected to be able to improve chances for patients from minority population groups to undergo BMTs. There is also a great need to expand opportunities for diversifying the pool of cord blood donations. According to NMDP data for fiscal year 2006, 60% of cord blood units listed in the registry is from Caucasian infants. Cord blood registries are also being developed on a global level.

BMT Statistics:

These tables contain the most recent data available on race and ethnicity of unrelated BMT donors and recipients in the United States.

Table 1: U.S. unrelated BMT donor pool and unrelated BMT recipients (all ages) NMDP-facilitated BMTs, 1987 - 2004

Recipient Race/Ethnicity	Number	Percent of Total	Percent of Donor Registry	Percent of U.S. Population
African American	837	4.5%	7.8%	12%
American Indian/Alaska Native	78	0.4%	1.2%	1%
Asian/Pacific Islander	538	2.9%	6.8%	4.0%
Caucasian	14,977	81.1%	50.4%	68%
Hispanic	1,033	5.4%	8.7%	13%
Other/Mixed Race	252	1.4%	2.6%	2%
N/A (non-U.S.)	790	4.3%	22.5%	N/A
Total	18,475	100%	100%	-

The bottom-line: Please help me!

After Several Years of Searching. I have finally found a couple of umbilical cord blood units that match my tissue type close enough to proceed with transplant.

What I Need Now Is Financial Assistance to Help My Parents Help Me - Help If You Can

Thank You Sooooo Much For Taking The Time To Visit Me !

When you register with the bone marrow registry be sure to let them know that you're also willing to donate peripheral blood stem cells.

Click Here

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http://www.marrow.org/ This is the web page for the National Bone Marrow Donation Program registry...

http://www.aadp.org/about_us.html This is the web page for the Asian American Donor Program...

If you have any questions or suggestions, please e-mail my parents Mark and Cora, or family friend Mike Beshears.

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