Natalie Nakatani, an 8-year-old girl from the San Francisco Bay area, recently suffered a relapse of her leukemia and is in urgent need of a bone marrow donor.
A website, HopeForNatalie.com, asks for bone marrow donations from anyone, but people of Asian descent are encouraged especially as they are most likely to be a match for her.
Natalie’s friends and family have worked tirelessly since learning of her relapse and the dire circumstances surrounding her condition. They have spread fliers, sent emails and posted on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook in hope of finding a match for Natalie. Those interested in donating or supporting Hope for Natalie can go to Facebook.com/save.natalie or HopeForNatalie.com for more information.
Her family also keeps a blog, documenting Natalie’s struggle to survive.
"Natalie’s biopsy procedure went well. We are still waiting for the results, which may not come until Monday. Our poor little girl woke up hungry and we had to hide all the food in the room so she was not too sad to see them," Natalie’s mother wrote on February 5. "Good thing her procedure was scheduled early so she only had to fast from 10 pm until 11 am. The moment she was back in her room, she asked for food. I had to walk to a dim sum bakery that was 15 minutes away from the hospital to get her the sticky chicken rice she loves so much. It was worth the walk back up the hill since she devoured almost all of it."
According to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, more than 100,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2009, and blood cancers accounted for 9.5 percent of all new cancer diagnoses.