Student saves lives

Ruby Ogawa saves lives.

Lives such as Jody Miyagishima, a 34-year-old mother. Lives such as Stephen Hata, a 49-year-old who went to see his doctor for a checkup and walked out diagnosed with a major disease. These patients, and many like them, suffer or have suffered from leukemia.

Leukemia is an incurable, unpreventable disease that affects the bone marrow of its victim. And, according to Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, or A3M, in Los Angeles, leukemia kills every nine minutes.

Ogawa, a Cal State Long Beach public policy administration grad student, gets to prevent many leukemia deaths. As a recruiter for A3M, she registers people into the National Marrow Donor program, a national list that matches potential donors with patients.

"There's no reason for people to die unnecessarily," Ogawa said. "All we have to do is get together and register as many people as we can."

Unfortunately, many people cannot get past the idea of being pricked with a needle. Even Ogawa felt scared at first. But, then she thought of the lives she could potentially save. She overcame her fear when she began to meet both donors and patients around Southern California.

"For me, it's a fight against time," she said.

Ogawa recalls one particular drive, where Miyagishima tagged along. After Ogawa made her presentation, an audience member confessed to being a donor. He began to share his stories about meeting the person he donated marrow to, and people began to sign up quickly.

"It was really a touching experience," Ogawa said. "I've experienced many of these, and that's one of the rewarding parts of being a recruiter for A3M."

To add to the drama, Miyagishima's parents were there. They became emotional when they saw everyone who was willing to possibly help their daughter.

The heart-warming stories of donors that meet patients that help drive her on. Hata had the chance to actually meet with his donor, in what amounted to a very emotional visit. In fact, Hata and his donor have grown a special bond between each other, in that they now share the same allergies.

She finds the Japanese American community to be especially rewarding because the community seems unrestrained by convenience.

"It's just a very enriching experience for me because I realized that there's a lot of humanity in the world," she said. "It's like a 'wow' experience. There are some very good-hearted people out there."

The Asian community is an especially important target group for recruitment because there is a serious lack of potential donors that are registered, Ogawa said.

About one fifth of the Asian community is registered through A3M. Unlike other services, A3M considers the language barrier and hires translators.

Ogawa, a UCLA graduate in cultural anthropology and ethnic sociology, is studying at CSULB to give the Asian Pacific Islander community a voice in all issues, including health and education.

Currently, she is trekking across Southern California working with high school and college students.