The SABAsearch Blog staff is saddened to learn that Vinay Chakravarthy passed away on the morning of June 25th.  Vinay was diagnosed with Leukemia and was the spotlight of a nationwide promotion to get South Asians registered for the National Marrow Donor Program.  Vinay did receive a bone marrow donor and transplant, but unfortunately relapsed and passed away shortly after.   

Vinay’s fight brought inspiration to many South Asians, including our entire blog staff.  His positive attitude and striving personality could clearly be visualized through his blog posts on HelpVinay.org and his dedication to raise awareness for South Asian bone marrow registration was truly amazing.  Sameer Bhatia, who passed away from Leukemia in March 2008, also played a vital role in raising awareness for this cause and served as inspiration for Vinay and his family.

Although we cannot bring Vinay and Sameer back, there is still much that we can and should related to their cause.  There is a deep need for members of the South Asian community to register themselves in the Bone Marrow registry as there are not enough South Asian donors within the program.  Therefore, the program has offered South Asians FREE registration, and we’d be foolish (not to mention selfish) not to take advantage of this life saving opportunity.

Here is a video clip of Russell Peters urging South Asians to register in the National Marrow Donor Program on behalf of Vinay’s struggle:

So at this point, we are calling ALL South Asians to STEP UP to the plate and help save a life.  Here’s how:

The first step is to find out whether you are registered within the Bone Marrow Donor program.  To do so, please click here and fill out the status information form.   The registry will check their records and return a status memo to your email. 

If you are not yet registered for the marrow donor program, there are many ways you can do so.  If you live in Houston, there are many Bone Marrow Donor Drives throughout the year.  Click on the link below to find one near you:

Join the National Marrow Donor Program

You can also go directly to a Donor Center to register.  Please visit the Donor Center Locator Page on the National Marrow Donor Program website to find a donor center near you.

We hope that all of you will take the time to get this done.  

Our hearts go out to the families of Vinay and Sameer.  The impact that both of these men have had on our lives through their strength and smiles will never be forgotten.   

For a long time I believed what food companies would print on their nutritional facts section, but the truth is behind every low-fat label is a list of ingredients that would give even the most relentless glutton a reason to reconsider. I was extremely surprised at the content of one of my favorite so called ‘health foods’, listed at #5 of the worst healthy food, is the turkey burger. This blog is to help educate the readers, so be weary of everything that claims to be healthy…

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