So much has happened over the past 2 years, and we can’t thank all of you enough for the support and energy you’ve given to us throughout Jonathan’s fight with leukemia, search for a bone marrow donor, and — ultimately – stem cell transplant and recovery process.

While Jonathan’s recovery is still ongoing — truly each day at a time –  we are so thrilled to be able to say that December 2010 marked his one year anniversary post-transplant! Today, he’s back in action and ready to pay it forward by helping other patients to find their bone marrow matches in the same way all of you came together to help him not so long ago.

We are getting ready to launch the 30K Friends Foundation and hope all of our loyal Team Haupters will continue their support of blood cancer awareness and helping us to grow the bone marrow registries to help other patients in need once we launch at 30kfriends.org. Stay tuned for more news on 30K Friends coming soon.

In the meantime, keep up with us on Facebook (join the new 30K Friends page!) and Twitter and certainly check back to our new website which will be launching in full soon.

Love and Thanks,
Team Haupt

Jennie Sheiman Katz was diagnosed recently with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), a cancer of the blood. She urgently needs a bone marrow transplant to survive.

Jennie is 30 years old and is pursuing a doctorate in clinical developmental psychology at Bryn Mawr College. Her dream is to one day work as a school psychologist, diagnosing and treating children with learning disabilities. Jennie is married to a loving husband, Billy, and they hope to raise a family together.

But those plans are on hold. Currently, she is undergoing chemotherapy in Philadelphia, Pa., and is hoping to find a Life-saving donor. Finding the right donor is going to be a challenge.

The search for a donor for Jennie starts with an easy and painless swab of the inside of the cheek. A testing kit can be ordered by clicking here, then clicking JOIN. Once you’ve registered you’ll be guided towards ordering a kit. You may use the sponsorship code “SWAB4JENNIE” and a testing kit will be shipped to your home or office free of charge.

If you are unable to be a donor, please consider making a donation to subsidize the cost of testing for potential donors. All donations are tax deductible and are greatly appreciated. To make a donation, please click here. When prompted to allocate your donation, please select “My Donor Circle” and then “swab4Jennie”.

Jennie needs your help. Spend 5 minutes and join the Gift of Life registry. A simple cheek swab is all it takes. You may be the miracle match Jennie has been waiting for. If you are unable to join the registry you can still help by spreading the word and by encouraging other potential donors to swab.

The only way to increase Jennie’s chances is to increase the number of donor registrants.

With heartfelt thanks,

The family and friends of Jennie Sheiman Katz

Now this sounds like a great program!  We need more mothers informed about the option to donate cord blood.  That’s the only way we can increase the cord blood registry.

A man we are all thankful for, Georges Mathe.

Team Haupt has had an amazing year and a half. I am so honored to have received support and love from so many friends and family. It is now time for me to pay it forward with hopes of supporting others who are faced with the same challenge I was in — to find thirty thousand friends.

Team Haupt is now forming a new non-profit organization named 30K Friends Foundation. We are dedicated to providing support to leukemia and other blood cancer patients in need of a matching donor for a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Our mission is to increase awareness about the importance of registering to become a potential bone marrow donor, to grow the number of registered bone marrow donors, and to educate the public about the critical role of bone marrow stem cell transplants in saving the lives of patients with no other option for a cure.

The chance of finding a matching bone marrow donor is 1 in 30,000, creating an urgent need to connect each patient with 30,000 potential miracle matches. If a match is not found in the existing bone marrow registries – as was the case for me when I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in 2009 – the patient and his or her family is left to search the world for a matching donor and navigate the complicated process largely on their own.

30K Friends Foundation is committed to helping patients and their families find that miracle bone marrow match and be their guide through this process – connecting them with 30,000 life-saving friends to find a cure.

Check back soon as we gear up for the launch of 30K Friends Foundation in December 2010.

Incredibly moving segment on this morning’s CBS Sunday Morning about the amazing gift of bone marrow donation and why the effort and support from all of you to help Team Haupt raise awareness is so important. Check out the wonderful story about Adam and his hero donor, Gary Zelkin, here and watch below.

A good read to share from The Roller Coaster Chronicles by cancer survivor Betsy de Parry from today’s edition of AnnArbor.com.

The Roller Coaster Chronicles: An open letter to cancer doctors everywhere

Dear Doctor,

Here we are, you and me, our lives connected by cancer. My cancer. Under the circumstances, I’m really glad to have you in my life, and I want our relationship to be very, very long and very, very good, but since I can’t find a manual on how to build our relationship, I’m guessing that, like any good one, it has to start with trust.

But trust takes time, which we don’t have, so I have some things to ask and say. Read the rest of this entry »

In memory of Tyler Genneken

Team Haupt is heading to Lake Placid, NY this week for the Lake Placid Summit Lacrosse tournament.  We’ll be holding our first Face Off Against Leukemia bone marrow drive!  Hundreds of lacrosse players young and old have come into town.  The drive is on Saturday, August 7th from 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM — we’ll be at the vendor area near North Elba fields.  Come stop by and join the registry!  We also need volunteers.  If you’ve got some time we could use your help…please sign up here to claim your spot.