Ali Reza Nasseh

Ali Reza Nasseh was diagnosed with Acute Lymphonic Leukemia (ALL) approximately 3.5 years ago. Initially, since I was not a Bone marrow match(siblings have a greater chance of being a match), doctors decided that they will try to treat him with Chemotherapy. For the first three years he was o.k. Last May he started having symptoms again and when his doctor did a biopsy for him, they found cancer and so he had a relapse. He was put on Chemotherapy again until they can put the cancer back in remission and he did go into remission about 1 month ago.

Two weeks ago he started having pains again and a high fever. This past week they finally admitted him to the hospital and after some testing found out that he had another relapse. So we need a match real fast or he's not going to be strong enough to go through the transplant. Just a note to you and whoever asks you, Blood TYPE has NOTHING to do with BONE Marrow type. For example if your blood type is O+ you might be an EXACT bone marrow match for an AB- person. So you really have to go through the HLA testing to know if you are a match. The preliminary match is for two pairs called A and B typing. The second test they do is for DR typing. For the first match all you have to do is give approximately two teaspoons of blood so that they can run the tests. Even when you are a match, the procedure for the transplant is not horrible. You are admitted as an out-patient, which means they give you local Anesthesia and then extract some of your bone marrow in a procedure as if they were taking blood. Then you are free to go. So it's not this cumbersome task that will take weeks and make you sick or anything. This is very important to emphasize, because people are scared what type of things they have to do in order to go through the process. Also that finding an HLA match is extremely harder that a blood match. It's not very common to find this type of a match probably close to 1 in a million.

My phone numbers are:

Home 703-448-2498
Work 301-214-8134
Fax 301-493-9193
E-mail: sara.nasseh@gmsi.com

The following are the steps to follow to become a donor:

Lookup the closest testing center in your area using the information at the end of the e-mail titled TESTING CENTERS .
Where are all the Bone Marrow Donor Locations ?
Call the testing center and tell them you want to volunteer to become a bone marrow donor, also mention you are Iranian and they might waive the testing fee (which is anywhere from $22 to $50 and it is tax deductable). They will setup an appointment for you. Also check and see if they have any bone marrow drives going on which you could go to instead of having to make the trip to the testing center. Sometimes the drives are free or reduced fee as well.
At the testing center they will have you fill out a form and take two viles of blood from you (which is equivalent to 2 tablespoons of blood). You should ask them for your registration number and tell them you want the results to be faxed to you as soon as possible. Get the coordinator's phone number so you can get in touch with them later on. Usually it takes anywhere from 10 to 21 days for the results to come back from the lab.
Once you have the results (and in the first testing you will only get results for A and B type) you can see if you are a match for my brother.
The following is his information: A(24,33) B(35,44) . If you are a match please let me know ASAP so I can fax your information to his doctor.
The testing procedure and transplant information is describle at the following sites:
- How Do I Become a Marrow Donor?
- A source of hope for patients all over the world
Note that all your expenses for the procedures after the initial payment is handled by the patient and insurance. Even travel expenses if travel is necessary. You do not pay anything.

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