KMK: Expats Unite YooWoon Jeon Needs Help!

Hello Everyone! I received this urgent message from Marie and as per her request posted on the blog in hopes that someone may see it and be able to help! Spread the word!

Dear friends,

I am writing this note with the hope that anyone living in Korea with a blood type of B rh negative (B-) would be willing to help a 19 year old boy who has recently been diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. I went to visit him in the hospital today, and now have specific information about him.

His name is YooWoon Jeon and he just graduated from high school in February. He has been sick since last October, but was just diagnosed last week. He will require 5-6 chemotherapy treatments, every three weeks. After each treatment he requires 6 doses of platelet, a part of human blood. The problem is, his blood type (B-), is not at all common in Korea. B+ is quite common, but B- is not. If a B- person gets B+blood, it can create problems. Platelet has a storage life of only one week, so its not easy to ship it from other countries.

There are 100’s of thousands of expats in Korea, teachers, business people, engineers, etc… B- occurs much more reqularly in foreign populations than in Korea. That is why I am reaching out to you! Korea has given me so much, and I often wonder how I can return at least a little bit of it. This is one way. I happen to have B- so I went to the hospital today, and am scheduled to give the platelet on Monday. I will just lie down and while I watch a movie or chill out, my blood will be pumped into a machine that will take out the platelet and put the rest of my blood back into my body. The pain is about the same amount as getting a needle.

YooWoon just graduated from high school, and his dream is to go to Yonsei University. Instead, he is in the Yonsei Severence Hospital. If we can all come together, we can help him get back on his feet and he can get back to studying!

Please ask your friends to pass this info around.

His father is called Jay John in English, his Korean name is Jeon Jeong woo ( 전정우). His father works for the Korean branch of Cray Valley, a chemical company. His English is very good, so you wouldn’t have to worry about communication issues.

He can be contacted at:
Jay
010-5048-7678
jeongwoo.jeon@crayvalley.com
If you have any additional questions, feel free to call me directly, 010-6801-0731.
Thanks so much for your time and please spread the word.

For your information:

Lymphoma

Lymphoma is a cancer that begins in the lymphocytes of the immune system and presents as a solid tumor of lymphoid cells. It is treatable with chemotherapy, and in some cases radiotherapy and/or bone marrow transplantation, and can be curable, depending on the histology, type, and stage of the disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lymphoma).

Platelet Donation

During a platelet donation, a small portion of your blood (less than one pint at a time), is drawn from your arm and passed through a sophisticated cell-separating machine. The machine collects the platelets and safely returns the remaining blood components, along with some saline, back to you. After the donation you can resume your normal activities, avoiding heavy lifting or strenuous exercise that day.
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/types-donations/platelet-donation
Marie

UPDATE

Dear friends:

I would like to thank you for all your help in the past few days, some of you have posted the notice about YooWoon on your blogs, and told your friends.  YooWoon will need blood from 6 donors every time he gets anti-cancer treatment, which is every 3 weeks.  We have found a few donors but our work is far from over.

We have made a facebook group to provide a meeting place and source of information for those who wish to support us.  Even if you are not able to donate, please consider joining the group and inviting your friends as well!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108240229198512#wall_posts

UPDATE: In addition to B rh negative donors, we can also accept blood from AB- donors.

Thanks a lot for your continued support,

Marie

UPDATE 2

Dear Friends,

I have received an update from YooWoon’s father, and wanted to share it with you.

마리
Dear Marie

YooWoon still hasn’t made any progress.
유운이의 상태가 아직까지는 호전되지 않네요..

Numerical value of platelets still stay 5000~6000, which is only 2% of normal person’s. If he didn’t get transfusion it drops to around 3000.

혈 소판 수치도 여전히 5,000~6000/ml 정도이구요.. 정상인 수치(300,000/ml) 의 2% 정도예요.. 그나마 혈소판 맞지 않는 날은 3,000까지 떨어지구요..

Three days ago, he got a nose bleed and it kept bleeding for 2 days.

3일전에는 코에 출혈이 있었는데, 2일간이나 멎지 않더라구요..

The doctor said he needs to keep receiving transfusions until he is able to produce white blood cells by himself. If possible, 2 packs a day. But there was only one day so far where he recieved 2 packs. It’s really hard to tell how long it will take to get an appropriate number of donors.

주치의사도 유운이가 혈액에서 자체 생산하는 능력을 자질 때까지, 당분간 혈 소판을 계속 수혈받아야 한대요.. 가능하면 하루에 두개씩..
그런데 아직까지 두개 맞은 적은 하루밖에는 안되요..
얼마나 오래 되어야 할 지는 아직 예측이 안되네요..

In just 2 weeks YooWoon will start his second anti-cancer treatment, this time much stronger than the first. His condition must improve at least a little bit before then because the white blood cell count will decrease dramatically when the treatment starts. At this time his white blood cell count, platelets and hemoglobin are so low that we always have to sanitize our hands and cover our mouth when we are with him.

2주뒤에는 2차 항암치료를 좀 더 강하게 한대요.. 항암치료를 하면 혈액내의 모든 수치가 급격하게 떨어져요.. 2차 항암치료전 유운이가 어느정도 차도를 보여야 하는데.. 지금은 백혈구, 혈소판, 헤모글로빈 등 모든 피수치가 낮아 유운이 옆에서 간호할때도 수시로 손 소독하고, 마스크 하고 지내요..

Normally with lymphoma after 1 week after treatment you can see improvement, but YooWoon’s Lymphoma has turned out to be a severe case.

일반적인 Lymphoma의 경우 1주일 정도 지나면 약간 차도를 보인다고 하는데, 유운이는 Lymphoma 중에서도 Worst case거든요..

However, thanks to the efforts of Marie and the foreign community, these days he gets a shot at least once a day. Our family is greatly appreciative.

그래도 마리 덕분에 유운이가 최근에는 하루에 최소한 한개씩 혈소판을 맞고 있어서 그나마 다행이예요.. 마리때문에 우리 가족이 얼마나 힘을 얻고 사는 지 몰라요..

We will keep you updated on his progress and greatly appreciate your support.

유 운이가 조금이라도 상황이 호전되면 마리에게 바로 알려드릴께요.. 아직까 지는 정확히 상황을 예측할 수는 없네요..

The news isn’t great, but I think if we keep spreading the word and donating, we should be able to turn this thing around. We are starting to get some attention from the press and various groups in Seoul. I can feel things picking up steam!

I also started to think… Does anyone know anything about writing press releases? There must be other ways we could help the family out. If you have any ideas, please let me know!

Marie