By Louis Chan

AsAmNews National Correspondent

I’ve never met Lara, but what a beautiful smile she has.

You’d hate to see that smile disappear forever.

The world needs more happy people.

Doctors diagnosed Lara with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in December and she needs a bone marrow transplant by April.

That’s just four months away, so you can see how desperate the situation is right now.

Lara is Chinese Thai and Italian. Her family in London describes her as a strong advocate for human rights and refugee issues.

Now she needs you to advocate for her.

If you follow this blog, you already know.

The best match for Lara will be someone from her ethnicity.

The number of Asian American bone marrow donors is severely lacking.

It’s even worse for Hapas. Only three percent of those on the worldwide registry are of mixed race heritage.

“If we had had some luck,this would have all been easy and I would have been a match,” said her brother Sebi. “But unfortunately we can’t always be a donor for the people we care most because of the genetics of it. Through the volunteering that Lara does she’s always been a walking guilt trip for me making me feel like I ought to do more. That’s why we’re now appealing to anyone especially those of mixed race to sign up and do something so easy as spitting in a cup to potentially help Lara and people like her.”

For more information on how you can donate bone marrow, go to www.match4lara.com