Meet Michelle Maykin.

She is a 26-year old acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patient who is battling life-threatening odds of finding a bone marrow donor match by June 21st. In light of Michelle’s diagnosis, Michelle’s family and friends have banned together to launch a nationwide recruitment campaign, Project Michelle, to raise awareness of the dire donor shortage specifically within the Asian American community. The goal is to enroll 15,000 donors into the national registry in hopes of finding acute myeloid leukemia patient Michelle Maykin a bone marrow match and improve the odds for patients like her. Only 3% of all Asian Americans are registered as bone marrow donors.

WHAT: In-n-Out: The Drive to Increase Asian American Registered Bone Marrow Donors

WHEN: Saturday | June 14, 2008 | 10 am – 3 pm

WHERE: Chinese for Affirmative Action, Community Room

The Kuo Building

17 Walter U. Lum Place

San Francisco, CA 94108

COST: Free for all partial and full ethnic minorities (Asian and Pacific Islander, Native American, Hispanic/Chicano, and African American) and $25 registration fee for all non-minorities.

Lots of community support for this bone marrow drive:

Hyphen Magazine, Chinese for Affirmative Action, South Bay First Thursdays, Angry Asian Man, Asian American Cancer Support Network, South Asian Marrow Association of Recruiters, Kearny Street Workshop, Asian Pacific Islander Nonprofits of Los Angeles, and Center for Asian American Media

If you can’t make it out to the registration drive or live outside of the San Francisco Bay Area, you can get a free home kit to participate in the program.

Here’s Michelle Maykin talking about how you can help

Michelle Maykin demonstrates how easy it is to be registered as a bone marrow donor