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  • Walk To Help Find Donors

    WALK TO HELP FIND DONORS
    By Joyce Rudolph

    Burbank Leader
    Monday, October 05, 2009

    Organizers hope to raise awareness of how people can save lives
    through donating their bone marrow during the fourth annual Walk of
    Life today at Verdugo Park in Glendale.

    The event is organized by the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry,
    which was founded 10 years ago and is a nonprofit organization
    that recruits matched, unrelated donors for bone marrow
    transplantations. The organization maintains a registry and data
    bank of information about donors and matches them with transplant
    recipients.

    The registry has received a number of referrals from patients in
    Glendale who have leukemia, said biochemist Frieda Jordan, the
    president and founder.

    "Their last hope of survival is to have a stem cell or bone marrow
    transplant," she said. "Therefore, it's important for the Glendale
    community to get involved and get tested to see if they can be matched
    with the patients."

    advertisement The unique genetic makeup of Armenians makes it nearly
    impossible to find matches among the existing international registries,
    Jordan said.

    The registry helps patients find donors all over the world, including
    non-Armenians, she said. And it is part of the National Marrow Donor
    Program, which is the American version of the Armenian registry,
    Jordan said.

    "We work in conjunction with them to find matches," she said.

    The registry officials created the Walk of Life to get families,
    friends and local schools involved, Jordan said.

    Teams of walkers from Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, Van Nuys and
    Montebello will participate in the walk, including 10 schools from
    Glendale.

    Participants can register at the organization's website or between
    8 and 9 a.m. today at the park.

    The 5K/10K walk-run begins at 9 a.m.

    There will be many related festivities throughout the event, said
    Burbank resident Armond Ag airman of Walk of Life. He is one of 20
    people on the organizing committee.

    Leading the warm-up exercises will be trainers from the Burbank
    Athletic Club.

    There will be live musical entertainment, food donated by Porto's
    Bakery and McDonald's and more than 20 vendors.

    The event is sponsored by Glendale Memorial Hospital & Health Center
    and cosponsored by the city of Glendale; Glendale Water & Power, which
    provides the bottled water; and for the first time Bank of America.

    People can also come to the main office to be tested, at 3111 Los
    Feliz Blvd., Suite 206, Los Angeles.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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