Claudia Peschiutta
GLENDALE -- Within the city lies the power to save lives around the
world.
Just ask Dr. Frieda Jordan.
The Glendale resident is seeking the help of the local Armenian
community in establishing the world's only bone marrow donor registry for
Armenians.
"Without their help, it would be very difficult to implement this,"
she said.
Jordan and others have established the Armenian Bone Marrow Registry
Charitable Trust in the hope of helping Armenians with leukemia or other
blood-related diseases.
Armenian patients need their own registry because their genetic makeup
makes it difficult for them find donor matches, said Jordan, associate
director of projects at the HLA and Immunogenetics Laboratory of
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
"If Armenians don't help themselves then, nobody else is able to do it
because they are genetically so different," she said.
The community responded to the call for help by throwing the first
fund-raiser for the trust in Glendale on Friday night.
The dinner, held at the home of Dalida and Micheal Keuroghlian, raised
about $15,000 for the project, Jordan said.
Dalida Keuroghlian said she found out about the project through
Jordan, a friend, and wanted to help out.
"I believe in that cause," she said.
Project organizers hope to establish a central tissue typing
laboratory in Armenia and a network of recruitment centers around the
world.
HOW TO HELP
* WHAT: Armenian Bone Marrow Registry Charitable Trust.
* INFO: The trust was created in 1999 to help find bone marrow donors
for Armenians with leukemia and other blood-related diseases.
* DONATIONS: Checks should be made out to the Armenian Bone Marrow
Project and sent to the project at 347 W. Stocker St., No. 208, Glendale,
91202.
* CONTACT: For more information, e-mails can be sent to:
frieda.jordan@cshs.org.
