Writer and blogger Emru Townsend, who was diagnosed with leukemia in mid-December, has found a matching donor for a desperately-needed bone marrow transplant.

The odds were strongly against Townsend ever finding a match. There is shortage of potential bone marrow donors from diverse ethnic groups. Townsend, who is 39 years old, and father of an eight-year-old son, is of African Caribbean descent. Donors of Caribbean background are dramatically under-represented in bone marrow donor registries in Canada and around the world.

Townsend’s fight is not over yet. His donor may still have a change of heart before the transplant. And he faces a long process of preparation for the surgery, the surgery itself, followed by a risk of rejection of the transplanted bone marrow.

Townsend’s family launched a publicity campaign earlier this year to raise awareness about leukemia and the need for more people to register for bone marrow donation. “So many people have helped, but they cannot stop because Emru is just one person. We have failed in a way, if he is matched and everyone stops talking on behalf of everyone else,” said Emru’s sister, Tamu.

“Part of the problem,” said Tamu, “is people think a transplant is a risk to their own health and very painful… Donation is low-risk, rapid and never done when considered dangerous to the donor. Another popular misconception is that matches are usually found in the family. In fact, 70% will rely on a stranger to be on the registry when they are in need. If you are of European descent in Canada, you have a 75% chance of finding a match. If you are anyone else your chance is between 10-30%.”

Townsend and his family are asking all members of the public, particularly people from African, African Caribbean and other underrepresented ethnic communities, to seriously consider registering with the Héma-Québec Stem Cell Registry (www.hema-quebec.qc.ca). You can call Hema-Quebec for a consent kit or download the form from the Stem Cells section of their website.

Registering and donating could help save not only Townsend’s life, but also that of Angela Christopher (African Caribbean) in Ottawa, who will need one in the event of relapse, Carolyn Tam (Chinese) in Toronto, Chantelle Chornoby (Aboriginal) of Ilford, Manitoba, and of the many other patients waiting for a bone marrow or stem cell transplant.

For additional information about the campaign, visit www.heal-emru.com.