Fellow Gaijin Needs Help with Bone Marrow Transplant

[FG Lurker]

Hope everyone here is well. I haven't been around much, working long hours trying to get by in real life.

A friend of a friend was struck with acute Leukemia early this year. At first things looked okay but later it was determined that he needs a bone marrow transplant. Without a transplant he is unlikely to make it through 2012.

No match was found for him in Japan. This is unfortunately not surprising as there are very few Caucasian donors registered here. His best hope at this point is a worldwide donor search but National Health does not cover the cost of these searches. It will cost about 3.5mil yen.

Some of his friends have set up a website with more information. They are asking for donations and also for people to register as a marrow donor.

He's only 46 and has two young children. Please help if you can.

[GomiGirl]

Poor dude. Goes to show that it could happen to any of us at any time.

I hope he gets the help he needs. I chucked a few bucks his way.

[matsuki]

Wow, tis a sucky story but hopefully it will have a happy ending! Me papa just had the TIPS procedure and has begun the search for a liver donor so I can honestly say I understand how frustrating the donor search can be on one's family. (Though in our case, my brother may give up most of his liver if need be.)

Obligatory Joke: Dunno about marrow but I've been a bone donor in Japan since day 1.

[james]

Do you have an address for him? Can people send cards/emails to offer support?

there doesn't seem to be a direct email address listed on the website other than "donate" at domain name. there is however an option to send a message if you make a donation through the paypal links at the end of the process.

edit: there is also a postal address and phone number listed on the "about" page towards the bottom of the english section and the top middle of the japanese section.

really hope this guy can find a donor to get the treatment he needs and pulls through.

[Greji]

Poor dude. Goes to show that it could happen to any of us at any time.

I hope he gets the help he needs. I chucked a few bucks his way.

I'm with you. Upchucked a bit as well...

[FG Lurker]

Is anyone here on Reddit? saveaidan.org has been submitted to /r/assistance (not by me) but needs some upvotes for visibility. Help appreciated.

[BigInJapan]

Is anyone here on Reddit? saveaidan.org has been submitted to /r/assistance (not by me) but needs some upvotes for visibility. Help appreciated.

Done. Really hope he gets the help he needs.

[Mike Oxlong]

Is anyone here on Reddit? saveaidan.org has been submitted to /r/assistance (not by me) but needs some upvotes for visibility. Help appreciated.

Done.

[FG Lurker]

Thanks, much appreciated!

[gaijinpunch]

can't believe that the UK would turn him away for being a long-term resident of Japan.

This sounds suspect to say the least. I know someone diagnosed with cancer and went back to the UK to get treated. Pretty sure he was gone well over 5 years. I'm not sure what their laws state though, but I assumed as long as you had the passport you were fine.

[IparryU]

Is anyone here on Reddit? saveaidan.org has been submitted to /r/assistance (not by me) but needs some upvotes for visibility. Help appreciated.

done

[GomiGirl]

This story seems to have touched something in lots of people. I guess we all realise that it could happen to any one of us.

That and he must be a good bloke to have so many people like our FGL who are championing his plight. I hope that the effort that people are putting into this are helping to raise the spirits of the guy. Attitude goes a long way when fighting serious illness.

[Ketou]

Here is a very interesting documentary that is a must watch for anyone that has, or knows someone who has, cancer.
[yt]0zBBfN5mQa8[/yt]

[james]

This sounds suspect to say the least. I know someone diagnosed with cancer and went back to the UK to get treated. Pretty sure he was gone well over 5 years. I'm not sure what their laws state though, but I assumed as long as you had the passport you were fine.

not sure what the laws are in england or how much longer than five years your friend was gone or if he caught a lucky break or what..

i was just looking at the stats for ontario, canada, as an example and they require x number of days per year of residence to maintain coverage or a certain number of days residence between longer terms of absense, usually several months at least or only allow this for certain types of absenses. ohip kicked me off a long, long time ago and if i were in this guy's position, i'd be equally fucked.

[FG Lurker]

This sounds suspect to say the least. I know someone diagnosed with cancer and went back to the UK to get treated. Pretty sure he was gone well over 5 years. I'm not sure what their laws state though, but I assumed as long as you had the passport you were fine.

There are quite a few rules, covered quite well in this NHS PDF.

My understanding is that if Aidan moved back to the UK and spent 3 months there covering all his treatment costs he would then qualify for NHS again. It might work out slightly cheaper to do this, but it also might actually be more expensive. It wouldn't be dramatically less expensive though, and there are a lot of definite downsides to making such a move.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I have a friend from Finland and he was required to keep paying into NHS there while he lived in Japan so as not to lose coverage. I think it was the equivalent of about 2 man yen a month. Do they have similar systems for NHS in any other countries?

I also knew of a Japanese lady who was in a similar situation because she had a stroke while living in the US and needed medicaid and disability pay to live. He problem was that her visa was about the expire and if she moved back to Japan she couldn't get disability because she had been gone too long.

[gaijinpunch]

Got a Swiss friend doing something similar. Sometimes it's better to be American where you know if you get a long-term or life-threatening illness while not covered, you will never, have local health insurance for the rest of your life.

Go Red White and Blue!!!!

[TennoChinko]

[Ketou]

I am not that certain it is objective.

You really need to watch it before relying on the information provided. The establishment and the drug companies have been hammering at him for thirty years. More than 5 grand juries until they got an indictment and then they could still not get a single charge of more than 70 to stick.

The comments provided hold quite a few logical fallacies. The movie does provide his side of the story, and it is a requirement of the detractors to provide theirs, not him.