Urgent Evoke for assistance

[Diplomatic Correspondents from all over the world, based in Washington play an important in helping a wider audience better understand many key foreign policy issues important to all our inter-related nations.]

A special and touching appeal has come ... from a diplomatic correspondent which relates to her beautiful four-year old son, Devan. [I hope it is appropriate to use the wonderful EVOKE global network to share this urgent and heartfelt appeal.]

Devan, the four-year old son of Bloomberg Diplomatic Correspondent Indira Lakshmanan, who works in Washington, DC, has relapsed into a rare leukemia, for which only a bone-marrow transplant can save his life. The problem is that only 1 in 200,000 people are possible matches.

[My hope is that perhaps among EVOKE's over 19,000 multi-ethnic members (or families), there might be a bone marrow match (especially among those agents or family members who might be Indo-American as Devan is).]

The donation test is a mere cheek swab, which the organizations listed towards the end of this URGENT EVOKE will provide via a test kit. We are informed that transplants these days are simple, like drawing blood. These steps would be simple and very convenient for possible donors.

Please see the message from Indira and her husband below, and you will see a website attached.

Also, please consider the special appeal, which requests a simple cheek swab test to learn whether you, or a family member, might be a possible match for a bone marrow transplant.

[While this message is not typical for EVOKE, my motive here is simple - to share a message with our large network that might help save the life of Devan. Thank you for your understanding and I very much appreciate your consideration.]

Thank you for all that you do.

(PERSONAL MESSAGE from Bloomberg correspondent Indira Lakshmanan follows):

--Our only child Devan needs your help. He's four and has relapsed with a rare form of high-risk leukemia. His doctors believe his life depends on a bone marrow transplant that they hope to do after 12 weeks of chemotherapy. What is difficult is finding a donor match - 1 in 200,000 in his case, we've been told - and we haven't found one yet. You or someone you know might be the person who can save Devan's life. All you need to do is a simple cheek swab to find out. The organizations below will send you a kit. Donating is easy - these days it's much like a simple blood draw.

1. PLEASE, REGISTER NOW. The test is easy & free, but processing takes time (up to 8-10 weeks), and Devan doesn't have much time left. Please Register below.

2. PLEASE FORWARD THIS ON TO OTHERS. Anyone can be a match, but those who are mixed Indian/Caucasian have an even better chance of helping Devan. Please cut and paste this message to strip out any private email addresses and forward this to everyone you can. By forwarding this email to at least 10 people now, we can spread the word to 50,000 possible donors within 48 hours.

3. VISIT DEVAN'S SITE - www.matchdevan.com - we will be including details on how to organize your own drive, valuable information on leukemia and FAQ's on registering and donation.

WHERE TO REGISTER:

=> In the US go to Be The Match Bone Marrow Registry, http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/Join_Now/join_now.html (you need to be 60 or under)

=> In the UK go to the Anthony Nolan Trust, http://bit.ly/cpkxuy (you'll need to be 40 or under)

=> In other countries go to Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide,
http://bmdw.org/index.php?id=addresses_members&no_cache=1 ---

Finally, if you're pregnant, your cord blood is particularly valuable for helping children like Devan - please look here to learn more: http://parentsguidecordblood.org/content/usa/banklists/publicbanks_...

Thank you so much for helping.

Love from Dev's parents, Indira and Dermot