For those of you who are U.S. residents, would you take a moment to fill this out? It would mean a lot to me.

I very nearly did not live through a severe bout of aplastic anemia. Call it grace of God, luck, chance, whatever you will, but there is no cure, just treatment that might or might not work and then lead to remission. It is known to return years later. People over 40 have a much worse outcome, because bone marrow transplants tend to work best in the young.

Because it is very rare, there is not a lot of attention given to it by medical researchers. 20 years ago, it was nearly 100% fatal, but what treatments have developed have increased the odds somewhat. A U.S. Rep. from California is sponsoring a bill to increase funding for all bone marrow failure disorders, including aplastic anemia, and it is scheduled for a vote soon. If you would follow the link below and send it to your legislators, it would mean a lot to me. You can write your own message or change the one they give you to say "as a constituent who is a friend of someone with bone marrow failure disease."

You guys really are more my family than my family is. Everybody here was so wonderful while I was going through this -- let's help some other folks as well as me.

-- Candy

http://tinyurl.com/6oolqs