Two Seek Stem-Cell Donors

Kazumi Schmidgall, a Shin-Issei high school math teacher near Phoenix, Arizona, seeks a blood stem-cell donor to help with her acute myeloid leukemia. A donor would need to be of Asian and preferably Japanese descent, difficult in the US, where most in the “Be the Match” potential donor pool are white. Moreover, a suitable donor has not yet been found, despite Kazumi’s story previously appearing in Rafu Shimpo (Dec. 15) and NichiBei Weekly (Dec. 17). Her family began circulating their appeal in Japanese on Facebook (Dec. 7).

Paul Goodman is a half-Caucasian, half-Japanese hapa in a similar bind, with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). A filmmaker, in 2020 he completed his first feature, “Evergreen,” eighteastproductions.com.

For further information and home test kits (cheek swab), contact: Asian American Donor Program, aadp.org