Help Emru Townsend Find a Bone Marrow Donor

The blog item I'm about to write is one of the most unusual I've ever posted here on PC World. But it's also one of the most important. And while it doesn't relate directly to technology, it has an awful lot to do with PC World.

For several years, Emru Townsend has been a frequent contributor to this site, writing such popular features as The 10 Worst Games of All Time and Five Things We Don't Miss About Old-School Computing. He's a friend of mine, a friend of PC World's, and a friend of yours if you've enjoyed any of his pieces. He's also a noted writer on animation and pop culture, and an all-around good guy--not to mention a devoted father, husband, brother, and son.

Emru continues to be a valuable contributor to our cause, but in recent months he's been fighting a battle of his own against leukemia and a condition called Monosomy 7. He's undergoing chemotherapy, but what he really needs is a bone marrow donor transplant. Finding the right donor can literally save his life. And while there are eleven million potential donors out there, identifying one and making the donation happen is a huge challenge.

Emru's family has set up a Web site, Heal Emru, to get the word out about his condition with the hopes of finding a donor--and to spread information about bone marrow donations in general.

Here's a favor you can do for me that can also help make the world a better place in general: Visit Heal Emru. You'll learn about bone marrow donations--an extraordinarily important subject which most of us know little or nothing about. You'll also get information on how to become a donor. And if you do that and turn out to be a match for someone who needs marrow, you can truly be a lifesaver. (I've given blood for years, but it never even occurred to me to register as a marrow donor--until now.)

You might or might not be a match for Emru--though anyone from any ethnic background could be--but anyone who's lucky enough to be healthy is a match for somebody.

Cancer touches every family sooner or later, not to mention every workplace--we at PC World lost our lab director, Uli Diehlmann, to it in January. It's easy to feel helpless. And good to know about things that literally anyone can do to help fight it.

Even if you can't register as a donor, you can help Emru and others who face his challenge by simply spreading the word about Heal Emru, as I'm doing here, and wll be doing elsewhere online. Emru and his family will thank you, and so will everyone here at PCW.