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In the Spirit of Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage MonthMarrow Donation Spans America and South East Asia
At age 8, Baxter was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a marrow or blood stem cell donor for his life-saving transplant. A search of the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) Registry revealed a donor. Baxter, who lives in Malaysia, was flown to England for his transplant. Today, he is healthy, back at school, busy playing with his friends and looking forward to the future. Someday, he and his parents hope to meet his real-life hero in person and thank him for giving Baxter a second chance at life. "People often wonder what the meaning of life is, what is our raison d'être? My answer came from a child whom I've never met," Ron Balbuena, Baxter's donor, said. "As much as I have made it possible for Baxter to have a future to look forward to, I know that he has given equally as much to me - he has given my life a purpose, a direction, a raison d'être," Balbuena said.
After his donation, putting his personal experience to good use, Balbuena decided to work as a recruiter with Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, a Los Angeles-based recruitment group for the NMDP, encouraging the Asian and Pacific Islander community to become volunteer donors. In the spirit of Asian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month during the month of May, the NMDP, Balbuena and the Chua family are encouraging Asians and Pacific Islanders to make a difference and give the gift of life by becoming a donor on the NMDP Registry.
"We give a zillion thanks for what Ron did. There are no words appropriate enough to describe our appreciation for such a gift. He gave us our son back," said Boon-Siong Chua, Baxter's father. "It is our dream to someday meet Ron to thank him in person."
Why the Need for Asian and Pacific Islander Volunteers?Stem cell transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient. Because the characteristics that determine whether a donor and patient match are inherited, a patient's best chance of finding a matched donor is from his or her own racial or ethnic group. Although more minority patients are finding donors for their transplants, they are still less likely than Caucasians to identify a matched donor. More Asian and Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, Black and African Americans, and American Indian and Alaska Natives are needed as volunteer donors, so others can have a second chance at life.The NMDP facilitates unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplants through an extensive network of national and international affiliates. By recruiting committed donors, maintaining the largest and most diverse Registry of potential volunteer donors in the world and offering patient services, at least 130 patients receive stem cell transplants through the NMDP each month. The NMDP Registry contains more than 4 million potential volunteers and is the only organization that searches all three sources of stem cells: marrow, peripheral blood and umbilical cord blood. For more information about how to become a donor on the NMDP Registry, call 1-800-MARROW-2. |
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Children often look up to Superman and Spiderman as their heroes. But, 11-year-old Baxter Chua knows better. Baxter's hero is a complete stranger, living several continents and oceans apart from him, who gave him a second chance at life.
Balbuena, a Filipino American graduate student from California, learned about the need for volunteer donors from the Asian/Pacific Islander community while he was an undergraduate student. "All I knew about marrow donation was that by registering, I could have a chance, however small, to one day save another person's life, to be a hero," he said. Balbuena spent half a day in the hospital where a small portion of stem cells was removed from his hip bone while he was under general anesthesia. "I felt a little sore after the procedure but whatever discomfort I may have felt was worth it. I was back to normal within a few days." 
