COMICS WRITER/PHOTOGRAPHER SETH KUSHNER SEEKING BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT AS PART OF LEUKEMIA TREATMENT
Prolific photographer (Leaping Tall Buildings), comic book writer (Creator-Owned Heroes) and general mover and shaker in the Brooklyn (and wider) comic book community Seth Kushner was diagnosed with leukemia last month. The 40-year-old husband and father has been forced to cancel convention appearances as he receives chemotherapy and is now awaits a bone marrow transplant.
Here’s Kushner’s wife Tera’s update, which outlines how those interested in potentially helping Kushner and others requiring a bone marrow transplant can contribute:
As you may know, Seth will need a bone marrow transplant. His transplant doctor is starting the process to search for potential donors through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which maintains a national registry of potential matching bone marrow donors. Many of you have inquired about how you can find out if you qualify to be a potential donor.
Basically what you do is register via online or phone & swab your cheek. Here are a couple organizations you can use.
Delete Blood Cancer – I personally went to this website, registered online from my iPhone, received a swap in the mail with 24 hours, mailed back the swab & was told it will show up in the register within 3 weeks. They claim to be the quickest.
(deletebloodcancer.org)National Donor Registry - this is the registry that is directly associated with the NMDP.(BeTheMatch.org)
More specific details are laid out on the websites above. If you decide you want to be a donor, you can:
• register online (they will send you a kit through the mail to swab your cheek that you will mail back- prepaid postage included)
•go to an approved center to swab your cheek (locations listed on sites)
•organize a bone marrow donation drive or “swab” party.
As far as I can see, the basic criteria for potential donors are:
•age
•health
•lives in the US
•not in the US military
•haven’t already joined the registry•willing to be a potential donor to anyone*
*Perhaps the most important point about volunteering through the national registry is that youcannot specifically sign up to donate to Seth. It is a big commitment to join the registry, and your efforts can be enormously rewarding, but the process is designed to find patients anywhere in the country or world who may benefit by being a match to you. Therefore it does not provide an option to specify who you wish to help.
Kushner’s diagnosis follows the creator’s success last month funding a $15,000 Kickstarter to print Schmuck, his 168-page trade paperback autobio graphic novel featuring the work of 22 cartoonists.
If you aren’t able to supply bone marrow, Kushner and his family can be offered words of encouragement through his social media channels including Twitter and Facebook.