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Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act (SB 1304)

Cross posted from Team Matthew's Blog:

Call for HELP/ACTION!!! Please help out by passing this message along to your friends and family.

The California legislature recently passed the Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act (SB 1304), which is a great victory for its supporters who told their state representatives of this Act’s importance. Now, we need your help in asking Governor Schwarzenegger to sign this bill, which would require all California employers to allow paid leave to anybody who donates their marrow. Until now, work obligations or inability to obtain the necessary time off were one of the largest causes of donors being unavailable to give marrow. The legislation includes the following provisions:

• All California employers will be required to grant an employee a leave of absence up to five days to donate their marrow to another person


• Any period of time taken from work to donate marrow will not be considered as a break in continuous service for the purpose of his or her right to salary adjustments, sick leave, vacation, annual leave, or seniority.


• During any period an employee takes leave to donate, the employer shall maintain and pay for coverage under a group health plan for the full duration of leave.


• An employer may require an employee to take up to five days of earned but unused sick or vacation leave for bone marrow donations, unless doing so would violate the provisions of any applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Please tell the Governor to quickly sign this important legislation, as for every person who called to donate but are unable to, there is a patient who is less likely to receive a life saving transplant. You can send an email to him at http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email or contact him at:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-558-3160

Below are some possible talking points that you can include in your letter to the governor. Include them but, if possible, you should also make your message personal. Tell the Governor what marrow donation has meant in your life and why you believe that this legislation is important. This chance to share your story is a very convincing message to the Governor.

Talking points:

• I support the Michelle Maykin Memorial Donation Protection Act, SB 1304, because it will reduce barriers to marrow and organ transplantation by increasing the likelihood that a matched donor is able to donate.


• Each year, 10,000 people are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma which can be treated with a bone marrow transplant.


• Many patients with blood-related diseases search the national Registry of adult volunteer marrow donors to find an unrelated matching donor for transplant. An unrelated transplant may be their best and only hope for a cure, as most people do not have a matching donor in their family.


• Matched marrow donors are often required to miss a few days of work to complete their donation and SB 1304 would make the decision to donate easier by eliminating the potential financial burden caused by missing work.

Jimmie Johnson won the Pepsi Refresh Project!

Thanks to everyone who voted for NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson in the Pepsi Refresh Project. Thanks to you his idea to create pediatric transplant grants for children who need stem cell and bone marrow transplants was voted #1. This means the "Be the Match (aka the National Marrow Donor Program) will receive $100,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project to help children in need.

Please Vote to Support Kids Undergoing Marrow Transplants

NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson has a dream to provide financial relief for kids undergoing bone marrow transplants through the Be The Match Foundation. Your vote will decide if his idea is funded by Pepsi Refresh. No registration needed. Just click on the vote button under Jimmie's picture. That's him to the left.

Thanks for any help!

CLICK HERE to vote online

4 Year Old Devan is Searching for a Marrow Match

I just found out about 4-year old Devan who has high-risk Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) a rare type of leukemia. Devan needs to receive a bone marrow transplant within 10 weeks.

Being 1/4 South Indian and 3/4 Northern European, Devan falls into the category of mixed ethnicities that is more challenging to match because for every patient in need, their best chance of locating a match is within their own ethnic group. If you are of two or more ethnicities it usually means needing to find a donor who shares the same ethnicities.

There is still no match for him in the global adult stem cell/bone marrow database. A provisional, partial cord blood match has been located for Devan but his best chance of a successful transplant is to locate a 10/10 match. A partial match can be successful but the odds are not as good as with a full leukocyte match.

If you are of South Indian descent and especially if you are of Indian and Caucasian descent please consider joining the marrow registry in the hopes that you will be Devan's match. You can learn about the two donation methods by CLICKING HERE.

Visit Devan's Website by CLICKING HERE

Joining the registry is just a registration form and 4 cotton mouth swabs that you rub on the inside of your cheeks.

Devan is just one of thousands of sick patients searching for a marrow match so that they can have a chance at having a future. Of the approximately 6000 Americans searching for a match each day because they are suffering from blood cancers like Leukemia and other blood conditions like Aplastic and Sickle Cell Anemia, 70% will not find a match in time. You can help. You might be a match. You might be able to help save a life.

Please CLICK HERE to locate an in-person marrow drive using your zip code

Please CLICK HERE to order a mail-back test kit that will be sent to your home

Be The Match on Youtube

Visit Be The Match's new YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/bethematch. There you will find videos about patients, donors, the donation process, and more.

You can help spread the word about the marrow donor program by posting the latest videos to your blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts!

Bravo's Design by 9 Supports the Bone Marrow Donor Program

Do you watch the Bravo tv show "9 By Design?"

Their next episode airs on Tuesday May 11 at 10:00 PM on Bravo. It's a show that follows the husband and wife property design and developers as they work on multiple projects throughout the season.

I'm sharing this with you because part of the next episode will feature a fundraiser that was held for little Jasmina Amena. The hosts of the show, Robert and Cortney Novogratz, were personal friends of Jasmina before she passed away and are still friends with Jasmina's mom Thea. Because of what happened to Jasmina, Robert and Courtney were able to create a feature on their program to help spread Jasmina and Thea's message: To raise awareness about Leukemia and the need for more people to join the registry as willing donors.

You may remember reading about Jasmina here on Tami's blog in the past. She was an adorable and courageous little girl who got to meet President Barack Obama just weeks before she passed away. CLICK HERE for to read the memorial blogpost I wrote about Jasmina.