Quervin's Cure: 22-Year-Old Man from Salinas Needs a Stranger To Save His Life !

Upcoming donor drive in Salinas

Saturday, September 12, 2015

12:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Treasure Hunt Furniture

865 Abbott Street, Salinas, CA 93901

We are looking for donors between the ages of 18 to 44 years old. The registration process takes about 10 minutes to fill out a form and provide a cheek swab. You might be able to save Quervin or any of the 12,000 searching patients. Please come and register as a marrow donor at the following registration event that his family and friends have organized.

For more information, please email ruby@aadp.org or call 1-800-59-DONOR

More about Quervin Ortega

Quervin enjoys his family and friends, outdoor living and activities, watching and rooting for the 49ers, working hard and is looking forward to marrying the love of his life, Vanessa. But for now, all of that is on hold.

Quervin does not have the energy to participate in outdoor activities and he is not able to work. During his first round of chemotherapy, he developed a clot in his brain which caused a stroke and left him paralyzed on the left hand side of his body. He is recovering slowly, working hard at physical therapy, and has made a tremendous improvement. Quervin’s doctors do expect a full recovery from the stroke.

Although it is risky, he must continue the chemotherapy treatment until a matching bone marrow donor is found. Quervin’s only brother is not a match and therefore he needs to find an unrelated bone marrow donor to help save his life.

Those who are not Caucasians are more likely to die of leukemia or other blood cancers. This is because there is a shortage of ethnic donors on the national Registry.

What’s the Solution?

Encouraging more people of ethnic heritage to be committed and join the Registry, potentially saving a life. Each of us can “Be The One to Save a Life!”

According to Carol Gillespie, the AADP Executive Director, there is a shortage of committed non-Caucasians on the Be The Match® national registry. “We need everyone of ethnic ancestry to step forward and join the marrow registry,” Gillespie says. ”When a marrow match is not readily available, patients have to wait longer than is ideal to find a match.” When a patient must wait, their body becomes weak and may reject a transplant, once a marrow match is found.

The Asian American Donor Program (AADP, www.aadp.org) is a 25-year-old nonprofit (501 (c) 3) organization, based in Alameda, CA, that works to educate community members about the shortage of ethnic marrow donors and the importance of joining the registry. It is the oldest nonprofit of its kind in the country. AADP is an official recruitment center of the Be The Match registry.