Posted on: Wednesday, November 10, 2004

EDITORIAL
A few minutes of your time could save lives

Leave it to our kids to show us what the aloha spirit means.

Students at Nu'uanu's Kawananakoa Middle School, with the help of parents and teachers, have come up with a plan to help three young boys in the fight of their lives.

The students are sponsoring an on-campus bone marrow drive tomorrow to help brothers Anthony, Kevin and Tuan Nguyen find suitable bone marrow donor matches. The brothers have a rare and fatal blood disease that requires a bone marrow transplant.

Although the kids are too young to be donors themselves — donors must be between 18 and 60 years old and in good health — they spent the day earlier this week holding signs and handing out fliers encouraging people to attend the drive, which will include a craft fair and concert.

Finding matches, particularly for Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities, is extremely difficult, said Dr. Randal Wada, medical director for the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Registry. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders already make up just a small slice of the existing national donor pool. And the tissue typing within that diverse ethnic group is more complex.

In short, it's like finding a needle in a haystack. But as Wada points out: "If you can search the right haystack, the odds are much better.''

And here in Hawai'i, which has the highest percentage of Asians in the nation, we have a unique opportunity to make a meaningful difference.

So kudos to the Kawananakoa kids for getting involved and working to improve the odds for the Nguyen brothers. Now it's up to the community to respond. It's a few minutes of your time that could literally save lives.

If you're interested: The bone marrow drive, which includes a concert and craft fair, will be held on the Kawananakoa campus from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow. For more information on becoming a bone marrow donor, contact the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Registry at 547-6154.