To what extent would you be willing to go to save the life of a complete stranger? For UT senior and communication major Alex Herenstein, no measure is too impractical or extreme. Two weeks ago, Herenstein befriended Alex Tung, a California native diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Tung is expected to live only three months if he does not find a bone marrow donor soon. On Sept. 26, Herenstein launched the #SaveAlexTung initiative, an effort to spread awareness about Acute Myeloid Leukemia and the importance of being placed on the bone marrow donor registry.
“I believe that life is a gift,” Herenstein said. “You can’t really control things you just have to live.”
As an AML cancer survivor, 22-year-old Herenstein felt inclined to share Tung’s story through several social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram in hopes that it would go viral. Herenstein was first diagnosed with AML in 2008 and received a successful bone marrow transplant from his brother. Seven out of 10 patients diagnosed with leukemia do not have a matching donor in their family, according to BeTheMatch.org. In Tung’s case this is true. Since being diagnosed with AML in June, Tung’s search for a bone marrow donor has been rather difficult considering his ancestry.
A patient’s likelihood of finding a matching bone marrow donor or cord blood unit on Be The Match Registry ranges from 76 percent to 97 percent depending on race and ethnicity. This is due to the fact that the markers used in matching potential donors are inherited, thus patients are more likely to match someone from their own ancestry. As a Chinese-American, Tung is 16 percent less likely of finding a match in comparison to a patient who is Caucasian that has a 97 percent chance of being matched to a donor. These disparate statistics prompted Herenstein to spread the word about the need for a more diverse donor registry.
“Alex deserves to live just as I deserve to live,” Herenstein said. “It’s not fair how people who are ethnically diverse have a lower chance of surviving purely because they are not white.”
On Sept. 26, Herenstein jump started the #SaveAlexTung campaign. He had several of his friends shave his head in Morsani’s common room on the second floor. The purpose of shaving his head was to display solidarity with cancer patients who undergo chemotherapy. Junior and international studies major Alexandra Small, a close friend of Herenstein’s, has been supportive of his efforts to get more people to join the bone marrow donor registry since last semester; when he hosted a donor drive in conjunction with Be The Match.
“I think it’s extremely important for people to be aware of this,” Small said. “He’s worked really hard to get it more around this campus.”
Despite his efforts, Herenstein said many people opt out of joining the donor registry due to miseducation regarding the donor process. Contrary to popular belief, not all donations require a surgical procedure. There are two methods of donation: bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). The latter is a nonsurgical procedure as simple as donating blood, and is the most common way to donate.
Although Herenstein’s main goal is to get more people to join the donor registry, he is more concerned with educating others about AML and having #SaveAlexTung go viral.
“If you don’t want to sign up on the registry, you don’t have to,” Herenstein said. “I believe you have to give people the knowledge and teach them and then people can make their own decisions.”
Since shaving his head, Herenstein has created a YouTube video showing his support for Tung and asked fellow UT students to share the video on their Facebook pages. Additionally, Herenstein has asked students to take photos with him and post it to their Instagram accounts along with the hashtag #SaveAlexTung.
“UT is so diverse,” Herenstein said. “We have the power to show that if we can come together as a community then you can have people that spread a message around the country and even around the world just by sharing knowledge and spreading awareness.”
Kai Miller can be reached at kai.miller@spartans.ut.edu