Today is September 26th and we have one week left until the drive. Everyone's generosity has been amazing!!! Not only generosity of spirit and support for Dennis, Debra, Adam and Jake, but also the financial support that will allow for the typing of numerous donors. We have exceeded our initial goals, and with the introduction to the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry, we can extend our search for donors far beyond our initial goal of two small drives: one in Boston and another in New York. We have aggressively advertised the Boston drive, and we are hoping for a tremendous turn-out! Louise Cohen, thank you for reaching out to us, in order to introduce us to Jay Feinberg. As Debra mentioned in her update, others have contacted us about hosting additional drives in the very near term in Seattle and Brooklyn, stay tuned, once they are planned, we will provide the details. The Gift of Life is remarkable in its ability to help us quickly mobilize and I am confident that we will have several successful drives in honor of Dennis. Please do visit the Gift of Life's web site at www.giftoflife.org. If you have not yet made a contribution in honor of Dennis and still wish to, this is another way to express your support, and it will benefit a truly a remarkable organization. Jay, thank you for making yourself so accessible to Debra and Dennis. We continue to work with the National Marrow Donor Program at the Dana Farber. We have established The Dennis Ozer Bone Marrow Drive Fund at the DFI/NMDP which will allow us to bring in additional donors. The NMDP staff work tirelessly to find matches for those in need, including assisting Dennis in finding his match, whether it be cord blood, a mismatched donor or a matched donor. In the past few weeks, we have learned the importance of these registries, and our goal is to help in every way possible. Thank you for making that possible!!!

So what else can you to do help? Here's a few suggestions:
We still need several volunteers towork at the drive on the 3rd at the Jewish Community Center in Newton,Ma. We will need volunteers from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m.. Pleaselet us know if you can spend some time with us on Sunday, e mail Sari at sari.a.rapkin@us.pwc.com

Keep the flow of e mails to Dennis comingin! He appreciates hearing from each and every one of you!
Send Dennis a card at the hospital,the address is as follows:
Dennis Ozer
c/o Brigham and Women's Hospital
75 Francis Street
Room 5B-38
Boston, Ma 02115
As Debra noted in one of her updates,while flowers and latex balloons are not allowed as gifts for chemo patients,books and other sources of entertainment would be welcome. Chocolate,baked goods, juicy fruit gum and both sweet and tart candy are great for chemo patients.
We hope to see you at the drive!!!! Thanks so much,
Sari

So many of you have asked, "What can I do to help???" The outpouring of e mail and notes to Dennis and Debra have been amazing, you have no idea how much it means to them. Keep them coming!!!

Since I am one of the “C.P.A.” friends of Dennis and Debra, I feel the need to share with you the blunt reality of finding a bone marrow match. As you know, on October 3rd, we are sponsoring a Bone Marrow Drive at the Leventhal Sidman Jewish Community Center in Newton, Ma.The goal of the drive is to match as many potential donors as possible.
Since tissue type is inherited, his best chance of finding a genetically matched bone marrow donor lies with those of Eastern-European Jewish ethnic ancestry.

We are working in conjunction with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the National Marrow Donor Program. Both DFCI and NMDP are not for profit organizations. The NMDP charges $65.00 per person who registers with the National Bone Marrow Registry. While they will lower the cost to $25.00 per person for the first 25 people tested, we are responsible for raising all of the funds.Here comes the C.P.A. in me……if we test 100 people on October 3rd, we need to raise $5,500.00. If we are blessed with a turnout of 150 people, we need to raise $8,750.00, and so on. Now let me put that in perspective…Dennis’ tissue type has been matched against the 5 million donors registered in the National Bone Marrow Registry and other similar registries worldwide. We have not found a match in the existing registries. So by testing 100 to 150 people of similar ancestry, we are praying for that one match that we need, but I personally like better odds. We are also potentially helping other families with the same desperate need for a match.

In my dreams, I would love to be able to have a wildly successful drive in Boston. Then with enough funds, I’d like to do a second drive in the New York area (you can’t take the Brooklyn out of Dennis…that may be the rare tissue type!). But it comes back to the cost. While my entire career has been involved with working with money, asking people for their money is a bit more personal. We don’t want to charge people at the drive the $65.00 per person to be typed, most of the donors will be strangers to Dennis and Debra. But for those of us who love Dennis and Debra, I guess it’s different, it is personal, and so I am asking you to first; please consider being typed at our drive on the 3rd if you share our common ancestry. Second; please consider donating funds so we can have a truly successful drive, and perhaps expand it beyond Boston. Please understand that Dennis strongly believes that this is not about him. His hope is that we help every and any family in need. We have learned the importance of the National Bone Marrow Registry in the fight against cancer.

Thanks in advance for your generosity, my heartfelt thanks!
Sari Rapkin
sari.a.rapkin@us.pwc.com

In order to make a donation, please make checks payable to:
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/NMDP
note on the check that it is for "The Dennis Ozer Bone Marrow Drive"
Mail them to:
The Dennis Ozer Bone Marrow Drive
P.O. Box 335
Needham, Ma 02494

P.S. Yes, it’s tax deductible!!! And I’ll make sure to post our progress in our fundraising drive.