There’s been a story circling on the internet, but it hasn’t really gotten enough attention to become a full-blown news story. I heard about it through YouTube from this video. And though this isn’t a story from Canada (it’s from the US), it was definitely something that was worth my attention.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jH9LVcU6so
This is a bit about her story~
Janet Liang was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (a rare form of cancer) in 2009 at age 22 while studying at UCLA. She endured eight rounds of high-dosage chemotherapy. In June 2010, she left the hospital in complete remission for a year and a half.
Janet was grateful for her health and she continued to go to school until she graduated. She was hired by a local school district to help tutor high school students. She was accepted for graduate school even though she studied for her GRE but she turned down the offer because she was unsure if she wanted to go through with her career choice. In turn, she took a trip with her mother to England and France, seeing as it was something she had long dreamed of. On top of that, she was also featured in People Magazine for her work in the nonprofit organization First Descents to encourage hope and healing to young adult cancer patients. “Janet wants to be able to fulfill her dreams of becoming a full-time teacher. She is deeply committed to addressing social justice issues in multicultural education and bridging the educational achievement gap transparent in today’s schools.”
However, now Janet has to put her future plans on hold seeing as her cancer has relapsed. She is 25 now, and time as ticking as she searches for her match in hopes of getting a bone marrow transplant.
What’s being done?
People are spreading the word about Janet’s need to find a bone marrow match. Famous YouTubers like KevJumba, Niga Higa, Quest Crew, WonFu Productions, and Far East Movement have made a video to help get the word out.
You can track Janet’s progress through her blog — http://janetliang.wordpress.com/ and through this site — http://www.helpingjanet.com/
There’s also a progress report for finding her match on Facebook
Although donations can only be made by legal adults and American citizens, the purpose is to let people know that anyone anywhere can pitch in and help Janet or patients going through the same thing as her.
Hi all, I thought this would be an important message about Janet Liang. Although Janet received her bone marrow transplant on September 9th, she passed away yesterday and lost her battle against leukemia. She was truly inspirational in her battle against this illness. She turned her valuable time into gold. She spiked awareness in bone marrow health and leukemia and she encouraged many new donors to sign up in the registry. The change was immense and she stayed positive and kept her Facebook and blog updated so that she could share her good heart and courage with everyone around her. She will be missed.
If you would like to review her journey, both links are in the blog post above. If you would like to contribute further, her family is seeking donations to cover the cost of medical insurance. Apart from that, her followers have created a PayPal account in her honor to pay for her funeral. All this can be found on this page: https://m.facebook.com/?refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F&_rdr#!/helpingjanet?ref=stream&__user=553990188