29-Year-Old Seeks Ideal Mixed-Race Donor
Reprinted with Permission
The Rafu Shimpo (Dec. 26, 2020)
The family of Paul Goodman is seeking a life-saving bone marrow match as Goodman battles a recurrence of B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
Goodman’s family are members of Orange County Buddhist Church. In a letter to the community, the family writes: “Many of us watched him grow up at the Orange County Buddhist Church playing basketball and participating in many other youth organizations. His love for the community has led him to the current day where he volunteers as a tech advisor for OCBC programs and serves as a counselor for the Los Angeles Buddhist Coordinating Council church camp. When he is not helping out at OCBC, he is a writer, director and editor at his very own production company which allows him to bring his stories to life.
“As Paul continues to fight to get back to doing things he loves, please consider signing up to become a possible bone marrow donor.”
For Goodman, who is biracial, the ideal match would be a donor who is 50% Japanese and 50% Caucasian and who falls between the ages of 18 and 44.
According to Athena Mari Asklipiadis of Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches, only 7% of the bone marrow registry is of mixed-race. Asklipiadis and Jeff Chiba Stearns created the documentary “Mixed Match” (mixedmarrow.org/mixedmatch) about the search for bone marrow donors for mixed-race blood cancer patients.
“We did a documentary because it is so important for mixed-race [recipients], especially in the Japanese American community because there is so much intermarriage,” Asklipiadis said.
“This is something people should be aware of, whether signing up as a donor at 18 or donating your baby’s umbilical cord, stem cells can save a life.”
Upon registering, the potential donor will receive a kit in the mail requiring a sample to be submitted by swabbing the inside of one’s mouth. Please see the website for further information on the registry process.
In Hawai‘i, those 18-44 years old who are interested in joining the donor registry can text “Aloha4Paul” to 61474 or visit join.bethematch.org/Aloha4Paul.
Outside of Hawai‘i, donors can register at join.bethematch.org/hope4paul or text “Hope4Paul” to 61474.
Paul is unable to receive visitors or cards, but you can send your encouraging words to him on
Instagram @notsogoodman. Follow Paul’s journey by going to the website ganbattepaul.com.
The Goodman family shared this message: “We are so grateful to everyone for the love, support and encouragement we are receiving daily from family, friends and the community. Just knowing that everyone is thinking of Paul gives us strength during this challenging time.”
