MEDIA ALERT
July 14, 2008
Multicultural communities targeted in bone marrow drive
Sydney - Melbourne
July 21 - July 31
A 13-year-old boy with leukemia - who has convinced over 10,000 Americans to become bone
marrow donors - is coming to Australia next week to do the same here.
Pat Pedraja started Driving for Donors after he watched other young patients die while they waited
for a bone marrow transplant. He has spent the past 18 months driving across the United States
twice in his “Donormobile” to encourage more donors to register. Last year he won a CNN Heroes
Award and has now been nominated for Teen Choice and Keep Going Hall of Fame.
Around 10,000 Australians are diagnosed each year with leukemia or other fatal blood disorders. A
bone marrow or haemopoietic stem cells transplant is the only possible cure for many of these
patients, yet only one in three will find a match within their family. The rest rely on the Australian
Bone Marrow Donor Registry which scans registries around the world to find match.
The Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry requires around 5,000 new donors to be registered
each year. Donors must be aged between 18 and 40 at registration. And because a person’s
tissue type is directly related to his or her ethnic origin, we need donors of different
ethnic backgrounds.
From July 21 to July 31, Pat will be raising awareness about the need for bone
marrow donors across Sydney and Melbourne. He will be meeting with young
Australian bone marrow recipients and donors from a variety of backgrounds,
and is available for interviews and photographs.
For details and interviews, contact Julie Sheather (0409) 514 643 or
Julie@mandarinmedia.com.au
Becoming a donor is easy. You can join the ABMDR at any Australian Red Cross Blood Service
donor centre. Once registered, the ABMDR will contact you if you are identified as a potential
match for a patient.
NEWS 
