You may know Emru Townsend as an animation or technology writer and blogger. You might have run into him at an animation event or conference. A husband and father, you may know him as an old or new friend. Or you might not know him at all.

In mid-December, Emru was diagnosed with leukemia, and a condition called monosomy 7. Due to the monosomy 7, he has an increased risk of the leukemia coming back, no matter how successful chemotherapy is. This is when he found out that everyday people could help save his life.

Emru needs a bone marrow transplant. This kind of therapy is administered through a transplant of bone marrow stem cells from a matching donor. The highest chances for a match are from siblings, but his only sister is not a match. As a result, his doctors must to turn to national and international bone marrow registries to find a compatible donor. There are over 12 million donors worldwide, but there was still no guarantee that he would find a match: The chances of matching another person can be as high 1 in 450 or lower than 1 in 750,000 in the general population. For a donor search, time is of the essence as the optimal window of opportunity is in the first few months after remission.

It's easy for healthy, eligible adults to become a potential donor:

1. Find out if your country has a registry and contact it online or by phone.
2. You must complete a form consenting to be added to the registry.
3. Provide a mouth swab or a blood sample. That's it!

Emru, his family, and everyone else waiting for a compatible donor thank you for taking action.

A broad and diverse array of donors are required because the chance of finding a match requires finding the right combination of matching human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) between donor and recipient. While anyone, anywhere can be a potential match, his best chance for a match comes from a donor who shares his ethnic background. As the son of two African Carribean parents, his chances are further diminished as blacks are underrepresented in bone marrow registries worldwide.

You can help by registering for your country's bone marrow registry and spreading the word about the need to diversify its database. In June 2008, a potential match was found for Emru in the system. This is a single match: if the donor is refused or changes their mind, there are no backups. Registering can help save not only Emru's life, but that of one of the other 16 000 patients worldwide waiting for a bone marrow transplant.