It's a small world.

A friend of a friend (of a friend) needs a match NOW - I'm listing the drives that are being held for him because they're being hosted by a different marrow registry, DKMS. Obviously joining the National Marrow Donor Program is a good thing (a great thing), but since he needs his match NOW, I'm listing the drives that are being hosted by DKMS across the country for him. I'm not sure how the match process works, but I'm assuming that all of the registries are checked when someone needs marrow. But in any case, here are the drives:

Northern Virginia:
Saturday, July 11th from 10AM to 6PM
Reston Town Center – During the Reston Festival
11900 Market Street
Reston, VA 20190

Sunday, July 12th from 10AM to 4PM
Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation (NVHC)
1441 Wiehle Avenue
Reston, VA 20190

Worcester, MA:
Sunday, July 12 from 11AM to 3PM
Worcester JCC
633 Salisbury St.
Worcester, MA 01609

Natick, MA:
Saturday, July 18 from 11AM to 3PM
Belkin Lookout Farm
89 Pleasant St. South
South Natick, MA 01760

Boston, MA:
Sunday, July 19th from 10am to 4pm
Holiday Inn Brookline
1200 Beacon St.
Brookline, MA 02446

Baltimore, MD:
Sunday, July 19th 3-9PM
Ryan’s Daughter
600 East Belvedere Avenue in Belvedere Square
North Baltimore, MD 21212

NYC:
Thursday, July 16th from 3pm to 8pm
NYC JCC
334 Amsterdam Ave. @ 76th St.
New York, NY 10023

Sunday, July 19th from 10am to 4pm
Birthright Israel NEXT, NY in partnership with JEC
Reunion
38 W 13th Street
New York, NY 10011

Long Island, NY:
Thursday, July 23, 2009 from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm
South Shore Bikur Cholim Blood Drive
Merrick Jewish Centre
225 Fox Blvd., Merrick NY 11566

Brooklyn, NY:
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 from 2 pm to 9 pm
Chesed Center
271 Kingston Ave.
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11213

New Jersey:
Sunday, July 26th, 2009 • 10 am to 5 pm
Congregation Ohav Emeth
415 Raritan Avenue, Highland Park, NJ 08904

Albany:
Sunday, July 12th from 10AM to 2PM
Temple Israel Social Hall
600 New Scotland Ave.
Albany, NY 12208

St. Louis, MO:
Sunday, July 19th from 10AM to 2PM
Bais Abraham Synagogue
6910 Delmar Blvd.
University City, MO 63130

Because this person's website says "spread the word", I'm going to post their website here:

http://teamhaupt.org/

We've never met, but we lived together in 5A - he had his induction while I was having mine. So get out, get swabbed, spread the word, be the match. Host a drive! If you or your organization wants to host a drive, here's the info for both organizations:

National Marrow Donor Program (Be the Match)
outreach@nmdp.org, or call 1 (800) MARROW-2 (1-800-627-7692)

DKMS
info@dkmsamericas.org, or call 1 (866) 340-DKMS (1-866-340-3567)

It is FREE to join the DKMS registry - here's the website where you can sign-up:

http://www.dkmsamericas.org/marrow-donor-form

I've already had friends/family emailing/messaging me letting me know they've sent away for a kit from NMDP - THANK YOU! I get sniffly even thinking about it, but someone somewhere in the world did something completely selfless and gave me a chance at a new life. It's really awesome that you guys are doing the same thing.

ETA: Here's yet another way to register - it's a registry I haven't heard of before, but they're offering free kits and expediting the testing for Jonathan.

Gift of Life has set up a special code (TeamHaupt) for ordering kits online FREE of charge. They also will send kits to Canada.

https://www.giftoflife.org/Public/Online/Donor/Guidelines.aspx

under Payment section use CODE: TeamHaupt This will ensure that the testing is expedited for Jonathan and make your kit free.