Katie Cramer, 16, is not a newcomer to challenges. She was first diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in June 2006. She relapsed in April 2010, just a few days after she was crowned Second Princess in the Miss Teen Asia Sacramento 2010 contest. Katie was born in China, and was adopted by an American family. Because Katie has no known siblings and she is of Chinese descent, her best chance of a match will be from someone who is of Chinese or of other Asian Pacific Island descent.

A marrow/stem cell transplant is her best hope for a cure. Those who are not Caucasians have a more difficult time finding a donor in the current registry. This is because there is a shortage of multi-ethnic donors on the Be The Match Registry, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). Only 30% of the time can a searching patient find a match within their own family. Those whose marrow/stem cells are not a match for Katie may be a match for someone else. Volunteering to be a marrow/stem cell donor is simple. Donors must be in good general health and between the ages of 18 and 60. A cheek sample is collected on swabs for HLA testing. Each participant is asked to give their consent to have their tissue type listed on the NMDP registry.

Hopefully, we’ll hear a successful donor match for Katie. Here’s some of the previous people we’ve tried to help: Michelle Maykin aka Project Michelle, Nick Glasgow, and Natalie.

Bone marrow donor PSA