Dear Clergy and Friends,

Matthew is a 9 year old Coptic boy in the Church of the Virgin Mary and Saint Pachomios in Stony Point, NY, who was recently diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous leukemia, a very bad cancer of the blood elements..

He is not responding to chemotherapy and the only option left to save his life is a bone marrow transplant.

Unfortunately, there is no match in his immediate family. Egyptians are difficult to match with American donors and it is rare to find a match from the National Bone Marrow Registry. His hope for a bone marrow transplant is fading.

A bone marrow drive is scheduled in TWO Churches in NY area:

St. Mary and St. Antonios Church
on: 7/31/2011 from 1-2 PM
606 Woodward ave
Ridgewood, NY, 11385

and also,

Virgin Mary and St Pachomios church
on: 8/6/2011 starting at 11.30 AM
3 Swim club road
Stony point, NY, 10980

Who can volunteer:

• Age: 18- 65 years
• No History of Hepatitis.
• If you volunteered before, no need to re-register, your name is in the system

The Process:

Initially a swab from the mouth is taken using a cotton swab. If a match is found, a blood collection will determine if you are the exact match. Finally a tiny piece of the Iliac bone ( the waist bone) is taken under anesthesia. No harm at all is involoved.

THE MORE THE NUMBER REGISTERING THE HIGHER THE CHANCE FOR MATTHEW TO FIND HIS MATCH

Let us pray and hope that one of us could be Matthew’s wish for life.
“if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” 1 Cor.12:26