Your Help Needed Urgently

*** This post has been updated on 5/23 with more relevant info on donating blood for Lars ***

I received this from Monica this morning...

Hi! I am afraid that I have bad news concerning Lars. He has developed a life threatening infection that started in his sinus and has spread through parts of his body. His only chance of survival is through white cell donors. This can help him maintain a temporary immune system. If anyone has any contacts in Houston who would be willing to come and get screened and then come back to donate please let me know. He needs a donor everyday for a few months. Please forward this message to anyone you know. You can donate every other day up to four times a year.

Thank you,
Monica

Some additional points:

Thankfully Lars was able to find a donor match, but his case is now caught up in an insurance fight. His insurance company has denied his claim for the funds to conduct the bone marrow transplant ($500k).

While this fight goes on, he contracted a fungal infection in his sinuses, because he has essentially no immune system to combat against the infection. He is in dire need of white cell transfusions in order to fight off the the infection that is attacking him.

This is now a plea for help. If you know of anyone in the Houston area that might be willing to donate blood, please pass this information on to them. From what I'm told blood type is irrelevent, so anyone can donate. Monica is desperately trying to recruit donors in the Houston area, while he is at the University of Texas/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center)

There is a 3 step process to donate blood / white cells:

1. Prescreening at M. D. Anderson Blood Bank

Weekends:
Blood Donor Center - Main Building

1515 Holcombe Blvd., Room R2.1183
Main Building, Floor 2, Elevator A, next to Diagnostic Clinic
Parking validated upon request
TMC Garages 2 and 10 or ACB/CPB garage
(713) 792-7777

8:00am to 4:00pm

Weekdays:
Blood Donor Center - ACB

1220 Holcombe Blvd., ACB 2.2173
Mays Clinic Building (ACB), Floor 2, near the Tree Sculpture
Parking validated upon request
TMC Garages 2 and 10 or ACB/CPB Garage
(713) 792-7777

2. After you are prescreened a blood bank representative will call to let you know if you are eligible. If so, contact Fred Spataro at 281-300-1677 and he will help you schedule your day of donation. On the day previous to your donation you can go to the Blood Donor Center in the main building from 8:00am to 7:00pm. They will do another small screening and give you an injection and two pills. You take these at 8:00pm the night before donation.

3. On the day of donation, you report to the Blood Donor Center in the main building at 8:00am for donating which takes approximately 2 hours.

If you have any questions or cannot get a hold of Fred, contact Monica Larsen 614-448-6478.


A few answers for questions we have been getting:

- You cannot donate if you are nursing or pregnant.
- Blood type does not matter.
- You cannot give from out of town. Everything has to be done at MD Anderson because the cells do not live long enough to transport.


Please reference the following patient:
Mr. Lars Larsen
Patient #: 705400


Please feel free to pass this on to friends and family.

If you have any questions, please email me at: marrow_donor@yahoo.com

Thank You,
Mike