ASIAN AMERICAN DONOR PROGRAM

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AADP is a community based nonprofit, for social benefit (501©3), organization specialized in conducting outreach and donor registration drives in and with diverse communities. AADP is an official recruitment center of the Be The Match registry.

In 1989, two Asian leukemia patients, Amanda Chiang, 9 months, and Judith Jang Berkoltz, 32, were in desperate need of bone marrow transplant.  Both patients were unable to find a match within their own families. Turning to the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) registry, the patients hoped to find unrelated bone marrow donors. With only 123 Asian donors listed on the National Registry, they were told the prospects of finding compatible donors were virtually impossible.

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Determined family and friends of the two patients made a statewide appeal to recruit more Asians onto the registry. Despite the tremendous emotional and financial sacrifice, which led to the successful recruitment of more than 2,000 Asians, no matches were found.  However, the unfortunate deaths of these two people gave birth to the compelling mission of Asian American Donor Program and the hope of new life to others.