Time's Running Out for Christine

We don't know filmmaker Christine Pechera -- but several of you do, including our pal Jeff. It was Jeff who first informed us of Christine's plight: She was diagnosed three years ago with an aggressive form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, and given a month to live. But she fought back, and the cancer went into remission... until it returned a few months ago. Now, she needs to find a bone marrow match in order to survive. (Check out her full story at her site Save Christine.)

So far, that match has come up empty -- partly because too few Filipinos (and Asians in general) are in the national Bone Marrow Registry. Her friends and family are hoping to change that, and have aggressively been recruiting people across the country to get tested, in case they're a match. (The test is simple and painless, as is the actual bone marrow donation, should you happen to be a match.) Maria did it several months ago -- and hopefully some of you have as well.

According to Christine's site, testing just got even easier than what Maria did back in February:

Signing up for the Bone Marrow Registry has gotten a whole lot easier. Kim Ramos at the City of Hope has offered to send a package that includes registration forms and a Buccal Swab kit to anyone who is willing to sign up for the National Registry but can't make it to a bone marrow center or bone marrow drive. The buccal swab kit eliminates the need to give a blood sample in order to find a match. Instead, you just need to swab the inside of you cheeks with a cotton sawb. Its easy and painless! She has also informed me that anyone who signs up that is an ethnic minority (Asian, Hispanic, etc) will have their processing cost paid for by a grant by the US government. So if you have a Filipino friend who wants to sign up for the registry, IT WILL BE FREE. Check out if you meet the criteria for a donor by going to http://www.marrow.org/HELP/med_guidelines_join.html.

The news hasn't been good as of late for Christine, who has to find a match within the month. She writes on the website:

I don't have much time left to find my miracle match before it is too late. Please, please spread the word to our extended Filipino and Asian-American Family. My family has exhausted all their efforts and now we need the help of the community to make a difference.