indica News Bureau-
A Connecticut Hindu temple is spearheading the drive to find a matching stem-cell donor for a married father of two who has been diagnosed with leukemia and is undergoing chemotherapy for the acute myeloid leukemia (AML), an aggressive form of blood cancer, according to an outreach email from members of the temple community.
Mahesh Pati, a lifetime member of the Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society in Middletown, is in dire need of a stem-cell transplant to save his life, and the most likely matching donors, which is based on ethnicity and ancestry, are other South Asian community members here and abroad, according to the outreach email.
Possible donors are being encouraged to register to receive a cheek swab tot et for compatibility. One challenge Pati faces is that less than 2% of registered potential donors is Indian, according to the email.
“Our goal is to get every South Asian to register to be a stem cell donor to save Mahesh’s life and to ensure no South Asian family ever faces this again,” the email outreach said.
Pati, from Orissa, India, was diagnosed a day after a reception for his son’s marriage.
Pati is active in the community as a teacher and as president of a local chapter of the service and spiritual Satya Sai organization. Pati earned a PhD at Case Western and has worked as an executive consultant at IBM
Registering to become a possible donor requires filling out forms and a cheek swab and filling out forms. Registration forms can be competed online, and a swab kit will follow in the mail.
Published registration sites are below.
Ages 18-35: https://www.giftoflife.org/dc/Swab4Mahesh
Ages 35-45: https://join.bethematch.org/Swab4Mahesh
Ages 45-60: https://www.giftoflife.org/dc/Swab4Mahesh
People in India: https://datri.org/join/
Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society: http://www.cvhts.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Swab4Mahesh/