Ontario student Moneet Mann is coming to Surrey in her search for a bone marrow donor. Submitted/Vancouver Desi

MANPREET GREWAL VANCOUVER DESI

Will you marrow me?

A 24-year-old Brampton, Ont. girl is bringing her desperate search for a bone marrow match to Surrey this weekend.

Moneet Mann was studying to be a teacher at Thunder Bays Lakehead University when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in October last year.

Although the news has been devastating for her and her family, she has chosen to see the blessing in her early diagnoses. With a stem cell transplant she can get back to her life, her school, her friends and passion to teach children.

But her challenge is that a perfect bone marrow match isnt always available in extreme cases, the odds of a match may be as little as one in 750,000.

Since her diagnosis shes started up her Will You Marrow Me? campaign to hunt for a donor, which will be holding a swabbing event alongside Canadian Blood Services at Surreys Dukh Nivaran Gurdwara on Sunday. Mann is particularly putting the call out to South Asian donors between the ages of 17 to 35.

According to Canadian Blood Services, matching between donor and patient happens on a genetic level. What this means is that if a patient is from a certain ethnic background, their donor is most likely going to be from the same ethnic group.

Doctors consider young men to be optimal donors because stem cells from young men can produce fewer chances of complications post-transplant. Also, men are typically physically bigger than women, so they can produce a greater volume of stem cells for the patient.

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Ontario student's search for bone marrow donor brings her to Surrey