LOS ANGELES — On Tuesday, February 7, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese, received a delegation from the Armenian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR).
During the meeting, which was held at the Diocese, in Burbank, ABMDR Board members and volunteers acquainted Arch. Derderian with the organization’s most recent accomplishments and current activities, as well as some of the challenges it faces in carrying out its work, including the ongoing blockade of Artsakh.
On his part, Derderian reaffirmed his strong support of ABMDR’s mission. Accordingly, the Primate informed the ABMDR delegation that on March 26, prayers will be offered at the Diocese’s Saint Leon Cathedral for ABMDR patients and families. The archbishop also announced that the Diocese will host several ABMDR community-outreach events this year, including presentations at Hye Camp, the Diocese’s youth camp program, held in summer in Dunlap, California, near Fresno.
“We are deeply grateful to Archbishop Derderian for continuing to mobilize broad community support for our mission and helping raise awareness of our work,” said ABMDR president Dr. Frieda Jordan and continued, “Today, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Primate specifically for his invaluable leadership in helping us organize several donor-recruitment drives at the Diocese in 2022. The purpose of these drives was to find potential donor matches for ABMDR patients and help save their lives. Hundreds upon hundreds of young supporters participated in these events, and Arch. Derderian had an instrumental role in their success.”
Established in 1999, ABMDR, a nonprofit organization, helps Armenians and non-Armenians worldwide survive life-threatening blood-related illnesses by recruiting and matching donors to those requiring bone marrow stem cell transplants. To date, the registry has recruited over 33,500 donors in 44 countries across four continents, identified over 9,000 patients, and facilitated 39 bone marrow transplants. For more information, visit abmdr.am.
