2008 Woodie Awards
Swab your cheek, save a life
Bone marrow drive to be held Tuesday in Main Quad to find donor for leukemia patient
Jay Donde
Issue date: 6/2/08 Section: News
It just didn't make any sense. She was the healthiest one in their group. She never drank. She was always active. She rode mountain bikes and rock climbed.
Then, all of the sudden, she just couldn't keep up. Last February, as Michelle Maykin was riding her bicycle across the Bay Bridge, she felt uncharacteristically fatigued and short of breath. Soon after, on a snowboarding trip with her friends, she found herself lagging on runs she used to easily shred.
It was time to see the doctor. Perhaps she just had the flu, or caught a strange bug. But when the doctor returned with Maykin's blood test results, the diagnosis was unbelievable: Maykin, a 26-year-old UC Berkeley graduate and tax adviser, had leukemia.
For over a year, Maykin has been battling for survival, undergoing five rounds of excruciating chemotherapy and cancer treatments. Tomorrow, students at De Anza will have the opportunity to lend their support to Michelle, by showing up to the Main Quad between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to have their cheeks swabbed for donor matching.
"Project Michelle," spearheaded locally by Matt Sun, one of Maykin's closest friends, is a nationwide effort to find a bone marrow donor for Maykin before June 21. According to her doctors, if Maykin doesn't find a donor prior to that date she will have to undergo a sixth, more intensive round of chemotherapy, which could be devastating to her long-term health.
"It's been very difficult finding a match," said Sun. "Only 3 percent of Asian Americans are registered on the National Bone Marrow Registry."
Ethnicity plays a large role in marrow compatibility. Complicating matters even further, Maykin is half Chinese and half Vietnamese, narrowing the likely donor pool substantially. Regardless, cross-ethnic matches, where white donors are found for black patients, or Latino donors for Asian patients, occur frequently.
Tuesday's Project Michelle drive, co-sponsored by De Anza's Asian Pacific American Students for Leadership and Vietnamese Student Association, will be the first at De Anza, but similar drives are ongoing in several cities across the country.
Then, all of the sudden, she just couldn't keep up. Last February, as Michelle Maykin was riding her bicycle across the Bay Bridge, she felt uncharacteristically fatigued and short of breath. Soon after, on a snowboarding trip with her friends, she found herself lagging on runs she used to easily shred.
It was time to see the doctor. Perhaps she just had the flu, or caught a strange bug. But when the doctor returned with Maykin's blood test results, the diagnosis was unbelievable: Maykin, a 26-year-old UC Berkeley graduate and tax adviser, had leukemia.
For over a year, Maykin has been battling for survival, undergoing five rounds of excruciating chemotherapy and cancer treatments. Tomorrow, students at De Anza will have the opportunity to lend their support to Michelle, by showing up to the Main Quad between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to have their cheeks swabbed for donor matching.
"Project Michelle," spearheaded locally by Matt Sun, one of Maykin's closest friends, is a nationwide effort to find a bone marrow donor for Maykin before June 21. According to her doctors, if Maykin doesn't find a donor prior to that date she will have to undergo a sixth, more intensive round of chemotherapy, which could be devastating to her long-term health.
"It's been very difficult finding a match," said Sun. "Only 3 percent of Asian Americans are registered on the National Bone Marrow Registry."
Ethnicity plays a large role in marrow compatibility. Complicating matters even further, Maykin is half Chinese and half Vietnamese, narrowing the likely donor pool substantially. Regardless, cross-ethnic matches, where white donors are found for black patients, or Latino donors for Asian patients, occur frequently.
Tuesday's Project Michelle drive, co-sponsored by De Anza's Asian Pacific American Students for Leadership and Vietnamese Student Association, will be the first at De Anza, but similar drives are ongoing in several cities across the country.
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