Health

May 30, 2012

by Suzanne Kurtz, JTA

For nearly a year, Julie Gavrilov has been trying to find a match for her father, Mark.

Diagnosed with a rare and aggressive blood cancer, he needs a stem cell transplant to survive the disease.

A Bukharian Jew born in Uzbekistan, he will have the best chance of survival if he finds a donor from within his own ethnic community.

Since learning of her 58-year-old fathers diagnosis, Gavrilov, an attorney in New York, has organized a donor drive at a Bukharian Jewish community center in the Queens borough of the city, written heartfelt messages for local synagogue newsletters and posted her plea on Facebook.

A compatible donor has yet to be identified, but Gavrilov, 32, is hopeful that the person who can save her fathers life will be found.

It just takes one person, she said.

Finding that person for Jews of non-Ashkenazi descent can be especially difficult.

Excerpt from:
Israeli, U.S. drives aiming to increase number of non-Ashkenazi bone marrow donors