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Save a Life

COTA

Nicole has cancer. The only known cure is a bone marrow transplant.

A transplant could save her life, but to get one, she needs a matched donor. No one in the worldwide donor registries matches Nicole.

We are searching for the one person who could save her life.

The search is difficult because Nicole is multi-racial - Japanese and Caucasian. Donors and recipients are usually from the same race. There aren't enough multi-racial and other people of color registered as potential donors, leaving these people with less access to transplants.

Nicole isn't the only one searching for adonor. Right now in the US alone there are more than 3,000 people searching. And there will be more: every year some 30,000 people are diagnosed with diseases that can be cured by transplant.

It will save lives.

3 Ways You Can Help Nicole

Join the Bone Marrow Registry

Registering involves filling out some paperwork and taking a simple blood test. Healthy people in western Washington between the ages of 18 and 61 can register through the one of our drives, listed above at the right. The National Marrow Donor Program has a Health History Questionairre which you can view prior to registering as a donor.

Every year thousands of patients of all racial and ethnic backgrounds are diagnosed with leukemia and other potentially fatal blood diseases. Because the characteristics of marrow are inherited, suitable donors usually share racial or ethnic backgrounds with the patients in need. Thus, the need for a diverse registry is critical.

About Bone Marrow Transplant
Stem cells found in bone marrow are used to create healthy marrow in transplant patients. There are two types of bone marrow transplants. Nicole needs a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell transplant (PBSC). This procedure does not require the donor to undergo anesthesia. For detailed information regarding bone marrow transplant visit the National Marrow Donor Program’s web site.

Places To Go To Join A Bone Marrow

Registry Please write "HN" (for Help Nicole) in red on the top of your application.

Western Washington
United States
Canada (English)
Canada (French)

For more information:

National Marrow Donor Program
Puget Sound Blood Center
Asians For Miracle Marrow Matches
Canadian Blood Services

Volunteer Your Time with the Help Nicole Organization

Help Nicole has many opportunities for involvement. If you would like to volunteer your time, please see our volunteer page.

Remembering Linda Lyons

"Linda Lyons has gone from this world. Linda taught children, but she taught adults too. I will always aspire to live as beautifully in health as she did in illness. She was brave and giving. She was a teacher to all of us. She made the world a better place."

To learn more about Linda'a memorial service, please visit her journal on her website.

Imagine awaking one morning with the realization that your life hangs in the balance, at the mercy of forces out of your control. Or imagine the most beautiful person in your life: your child, your best friend or your spouse – perhaps one and the same – stricken by a disease that will be fatal without treatment, treatment that may be as dangerous and painful as the disease itself. Consider such a moment when your hopes and dreams seem far away and you realize how fragile life really is.

Linda Lyons was a beautiful 26 year-old, a bride of two and a half years, and a popular elementary school teacher when she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) on January 4, 2001. Today she is an even more beautiful 27 year-old, having grown in grace, patience, and faith through a roller-coaster year of chemotherapy treatment that has recently proven unsuccessful, despite the diligent and personal care of her doctors and nurses. Thus, Linda and her husband Ken are in a race against time to identify a suitable donor from which to receive a stem cell transplant.