Networking Group Lends a Hand

Many members of the have agreed to participate in a bone marrow screening event at , to assist DKMS in finding potential donors to fight blood cancer. 

Michael Guglielmo and Christina Poulicakos, the parents of Giovanni Guglielmo, the young boy diagnosed with the rare disease here in New Hampshire that helped build awareness about the issue, made the pitch to SSING members on May 7.

Guglielmo stated that while Giovanni had passed on last month, he had “a good life” due to so many people becoming donors. He said he was now working to “carry on his legacy” calling it his obligation to work to carry on the hope that Giovanni had and help others.

The process is relatively simple. It starts with education and awareness, where those who agree to participate in the program talk, network, and find each other’s strengths and assess what each person has to offer and promote the drive. The process then moves to swabbing for cells to see if there are matches. After that, if the participant is a match, Guglielmo said the organization pays for everything to get the match to someone who needs the bone marrow.

The process, Guglielmo said, was not as invasive as most people suspect.

“We’re not going to crack your bones up,” he said. “They are taking your stem cells, not the marrow.”

Guglielmo said the process was completely anonymous and added that there were a lot of fears about the process. Drawing the stems comes from arms in adults and lower back with young people. It really was a minor procedure when one considers the amount of good that can come from the donation, he said.

“You’re saving someone’s life,” he said.

The northeast region of the country is a particularly good area for swabbing since millions of the residents were descendants of western European countries, Guglielmo said. The organization, he noted, has touched three million people since 1991 with testing and matched 30,000 bone marrow transplants.

To sign up now, visit: http://temp.helpgiovanniguglielmoorg.officelive.com/default.aspx

Concord NH Patch will have more information about the drive when it becomes available.