PRESS RELEASE
The Civilitas Foundation

One Northern Avenue, suit 30
Yerevan, Armenia
tel: +37410500119
email: communications@civilitasfoundation.org

The Civilitas Foundation mobilizes youth to become bone marrow donors.

`There are so many people whose life depends on finding a matching bone
marrow donor and so few young people know about it,’ said Gayane Selimyan,
an intern at the Civilitas Foundation in Yerevan. `I am very glad that many
are ready to become donors as soon as they learn about it.’

Gayane’s comments followed two successive drives at the Civilitas office.
On May 7 and May 14, over 200 young people came to give a couple of mgs of
blood in order to enter the bone marrow registry.

The reason for the Civilitas participation is not only humanitarian. It also
has to do with the story of Civilitas intern, Olivia Katrandjian, whose
mother is suffering from lymphoma, an aggressive and unpredictable form of
blood cancer. At this point, her only chance for a cure is a bone marrow
transplant. In order to perform this procedure, the doctors need a blood
donor who is a genetic match, but currently, there are no registered donors
who qualify. The best chance of finding a match is from another Armenian,
and so Olivia has been working with the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry
to increase the number of Armenian registrants in the system.

`Last Friday was my birthday and the only thing I wanted was to find a match
for my mother,’ said Olivia. `But it’s about more than that – 1300
Armenians
are in need of a matching donor, including a four-year old girl in
Philadelphia. It’s so easy to sign up, why not help?’

Joining the registry is simple – it requires only a cotton swab to collect
some cheek cells from the inside of the mouth. That option is available for
those who for some reason can’t give blood.

`Some people were scared of the idea that they were going to give blood
thinking that they would lose "tons of it," but it is actually so simple,’
said Tatevik Teroyan, an intern at Civilitas. `Many of them, after hearing
what it means to be a donor, eagerly registered and even called their
friends and relatives to come.’

`It was so interesting to approach people in the street, in front of our
office building, and tell them that there are thousands of people waiting
for that unique chance to stay alive,’ said Mane Gevorgyan, a young
Civilitas staffer. `If 10 years ago somebody organized such an event, my
mom’s life could have been also saved.’

`Our initiative this Friday reminded me of an idea,’ said Ani Navasdaryan,
another young staffer. `I don’t remember where I read it, but I really
like
it: `Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people can change the
world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.’ And I want all people to
believe in that.’

Salpi Ghazarian, Director of Civilitas, said, `In Armenia, the capacity to
believe in one’s own power to do good and have an impact, has disappeared.
Causes such as this one – performing a random act of kindness, with no
expectation other than that it will do good, help instill that faith in
people, especially young people. Most of the donors who came these last few
weeks were under 30, and they thanked us for the opportunity to help. That’s
an accomplishment.

`The challenge now is that as we increase numbers of donors, especially in
Armenia, that the number of financial donors to the Bone Marrow registry
also increases, in order to enhance their capacity to enlarge the registry,’
Ghazarian added.