Kaiya Endo, an 18-year-old resident of Utah and student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is in need of a stem cell donor.
Her mother, Allison Jones, posted the following message on Facebook on Nov. 20: “As many of you know, Kaiya was diagnosed with aplastic anemia a few weeks ago, has no sibling to donate stem cells, and is in real need of a stem cell transplant to recover and have a chance at a normal life again. And, her current odds of finding an unrelated donor match in the international stem cell donor registry are not great.
“Thanks to incredible activists working for Kaiya and the Be the Match organization, we have started a specific campaign to try to register 1,000 new people through Be the Match into the stem cell donor registry. While all 18-40-year-olds are eligible to join of course, there is a shortage of donors who are similar to Kaiya, specifically people of Asian/Caucasian descent.
“We are asking folks who fit this description (and especially one-half Japanese, one-half Caucasian like Kaiya) to consider signing up … Also please share this FB post with with other folks of mixed Caucasian/Asian descent, and/or to social media platforms, e-lists, blogs and e-boards of any Asian community-based organizations, student clubs, churches etc. that you may know of. Thanks for helping us spread the word for Kaiya.”
In a separate statement, Endo’s family and friends said: “Kaiya is a bright, outgoing, compassionate and fun-loving girl who was born and raised in Salt Lake City. She absolutely loves the outdoors and has spent a great deal of her young life playing tennis skiing, rock climbing, back-packing, hiking, kayaking and white water rafting. She is one of the most driven people we have ever known. She set her sights on one of the top engineering schools in the country (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) and worked extremely hard to realize that dream.
“Kaiya had just started her freshman year and wasloving her new life on Cal Poly’s beautiful coastal California campus — meeting new friends in classes and in the dorms while kcking off her mechanical engineering major — when she received this diagnosis. Now, after five weeks away at school, Kaiya is back at home in Utah to have blood transfusions twice a week while we hope with all our hearts that a genetic match can be found in the stem cell donor database.
“Her stem cells are no longer making blood cells or platelets. The first hope in these cases is that the patient in need of the stem cell transplant can receive it from a sibling, but unfortunately Kaiya is an only child. So we look to potential donors.
“While the international stem cell donor registry currently sounds huge, there is an ethnic component to the likelihood of finding a match. About 55-60% of the registry currently consists of Caucasians of Northern European descent. The rest of the database is shared among all the other races of the world, with individuals of mixed race being one of the smallest components in the registry … We have heard stories of one-half Japanese/one-half Caucasians not finding a single match in the registry.
“And so, with nothing to lose, we have started a campaign with Be the Match to try to bring more 18-40-year-olds of mixed Asian/Caucasian descent into the donor database. You can save a life! Go to: http://bit.ly/46iiNvz. Text: “teamkaiyaUT” to 61474. Or call Be the Match at 1-888-999-6743.
“You will get a free kit for Kaiya’s campaign in the mail and you simply swab your cheek and send it back. Timing is crucial so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping to spread the word about Kaiya and offering any assistance you are able. We are endlessly grateful.”