Great Nonprofits

A donation to the Joanne Pang Foundation will be a step closer to raising the 2.5 million dollars needed to make a Northern California Umbilical Cord Blood Bank a reality. As a general pediatrian in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have met with many expecting parents who express an interest in donating their newborn's cord blood to a public cord blood bank (which is free of charge). They are disappointed to hear that currently only Southern California has a public umbilical cord blood bank. Needless to say, a public cord blood bank in Northern California is long overdue. Umbilical cord blood is rich in cells called stem cellls that could save the life of another child or adult with a life-threatening illness. Cord blood is otherwise considered biohazard waste and is thrown away after the baby is born. There are several private for-profit cord blood banks in Northern California. Private cord blood banks charge a fee for collection and storage of the cord blood. However, it is not recommended to donate to a private cord blood bank for private use unless under special circumstances. For more information about public vs. private cord blood banking, you can contact your pediatrician or find information from the American Academy of Pediatrics at www.aap.org. Please donate today! It will ultimately save a life!

I have tremendous admiration for Joe Pang's vision and the relentless passion of the Joanne Pang Foundation. They have set out to create a much needed umbilical cord blood bank in ethnically diverse Northern California. By saving cord blood, which is currently being thrown away, the Foundation can help save thousands of people that have blood related diseases. No longer will patients have to wait until a bone marrow match can be found. Your donation will help turn medical waste into miracles.

This organization's mission is to save lives through the public banking of umbilical cord blood. Cord blood has lifesaving potential because it yields stem cells which can be transplanted into patients suffering from as many as 70 different diseases. The Foundation's work is at the cutting edge of medicine and is non-controversial (unlike embryonic stem cells) and non-invasive. Join with me as we work to establish a cord blood bank in Northern California. The all volunteer staff is exceptionally devoted to this cause. Check out www.joannepang.org to learn more... and please donate today.

I didn't know Joseph nor Joanne before. I hail from Taiwan and a colleague of mine handed me Joseph's book after reading it and being deeply affected by it. You see, I am in the cord blood bank business myself and I represent Safebanker (Taiwan) Ltd. Safebanker is a private cord blood bank company in Taiwan. After reading the book, I was touched and compelled to do something in not only educating people but reaching out and helping families with similar circumstances as Joseph Pang's family. My colleague and I then vowed to get in touch with Joseph and when I visited the Bay Area recently, I was able to talk to Joseph, share our ideas and got his approval to establish a Joanne Pang Foundation in Taiwan. As a result, my wife, who is based in the Bay Area has recently volunteered her time and services for the foundation in her own small way and I am sure that with all the dedicated volunteers, the Foundation will be established and God has intended it to be.

Joanne Pang adopted us as her surrogate grandparents. She was a wonderful child - intelligent, active, fun and with an amazing ability to get along with everyone. We spent happy hours baking cookies, playing games and just having lively conversations. One day she participated in a school marathon fund raising walk; the next day she was diagnosed and dying from leukemia. Joanne and her family spent two agonizing years with endless hospital stays and treatments. Throughout this terrible ordeal, Joanne had an unbelievable positive attitude and provided encouragement to everyone she came in contact with. She was constantly thinking of others. In our final hospital visit, she smiled and said, “Oh, I almost forgot, Happy New Year”. Joanne did not have time in that new year but with the establishment of NCUUB, the first nonprofit, public cord blood bank in Northern California, other bright and beautiful children will have a chance for life. The umbilical cord blood stem cells provide life-saving therapeutic treatment for patients with various cancers, genetic diseases, immune system deficiencies, and blood disorders in the San Francisco Bay Area and worldwide. This is a cause that will benefit thousands and is certainly deserving of support.

I feel fortunate to have had an opportunity to know Joanne and her family. We met at Duke University Hospital where both Joanne and our son, Andrew, had their cord blood stem cell transplant. Joanne remains in our thoughts and in our hearts. Cord blood stem cells provide hope and saves lives. I am in full support of the Joanne Pang foundation in its efforts to establish a public cord blood bank. With your support of the Joanne Pang Foundation you will be directly taking part in the saving of lives. Herb Lee

I was privileged to know Joanne Pang as my talented and exuberant piano student. I was aware of her painful struggle with leukemia and heartbreaking decline for two years and also of the emotional suffering endured by her parents and her younger brother, Chris. The community who loved this child also mobilized for a bone marrow drive, but despite great local response, the right source of bone marrow did not materialize. There are no words to describe the despair of seeing a precious child get sicker and sicker while waiting for an elusive matching bone marrow donor. Joanne was a bright little girl with a child's curious, pragmatic and surprisingly scientific view of cancer, and I remember soon after her diagnosis, being amazed by her hopeful spirit when I visited her at home, and later, in the hospital. It is still difficult to believe that leukemia has stolen Joanne's spirit from her family and friends. The Joanne Pang Foundation created by Joanne's family in her memory seeks to create a public, nonprofit umbilical cord blood bank that would provide a source of healthy stem cells for a life-saving transplant. All the umbilical cord blood that are currently discarded as the medical waste in the San Francisco Bay Area could be saved, stored and deliver a cure and a future for other children with blood cancers and many other grave diseases. Joanne's family wants to channel their own grief and loss into a source of miracles for other patients. It will take the extraordinary generosity and kindness of the public to make this dream come true. The Foundation is Joanne's legacy and a most worthy cause, deserving of your dollar.

My name is Brian Bender. My son Parris had a bone marrow transplant around the time that Joanne Pang was receiving treament for leukemia. We got to know Joanne and her parents and were very saddened by her passing. My child was transplanted with a unit of cord blood, and we are very pleased that the Joanne Pang Foundation has put their efforts behind forming a cord blood bank in the San Francisco Bay area. When cord blood is discarded after childbirth, an opportunity to save a life is discarded as well. Fortunately most of you will not need to find a donor for a transplant, but as a parent of a child who did, I am very fortunate to have found a unit that worked for my son. That unit was thoughtfully donated by some family in the United States. Please support the Joanne Pang Foundation in their effort to make finding a donor possible for everyone. Brian Bender

I was one of the lucky ones who had the great fortune of having known the little beautiful girl, Joanne, who lost her life at a very young age, after long suffering. I can tell you from a personal experience that she left a void in the life of everyone who was lucky enough to meet and enjoy her wonderful and happy personality and inner and outer beauty. This foundation has been formed by her parents, two wonderful people, who did everything to save their little girl; even suspending their own lives for years to make sure that she received the best medical care. I saw what a great toll (psychological and financial) this effort took on them, especially when they had another younger child who they were trying to support and nurture. I have had many conversations with them during and after their agonizing ordeal and I know how committed and focused they are in their intentions and efforts to make sure others will not suffer the same loss and experience the terrible agony they experienced watching helplessly their beautiful child suffer the pains as her health deteriorated over two years. I know there are many worthwhile causes and wonderful organizations which are trying to support them. In my opinion, in its intent and focus, this one ranks up there with the best of them. However, being a new foundation, it needs a lot of support and involvement from all of us to pursue its lofty objectives to save the wonderful lives which may be lost otherwise. I hope you will take the time to learn more about the foundation and support it in any way that you can. --- Alev M. Efendioglu, Ph.D., Professor of Management