The Iranian American Society of New York, Inc. (IAS) devotes its efforts in assisting those most in need in our community. This is in the foundation of our organization's 40-year Mission Statement. As many of you have heard in recent days that a member of our community, Dr. Shahin Nouri, is in dire need of assistance from all of us. As a Doctor of Neurology, Dr. Nouri has devoted his entire career to helping those in need.

Now, it is our time to help Dr. Nouri! As such, IAS in partnership with Be The Match, working with local businesses in our community, our local politicians and others, has arranged for eight drives beginning on Friday, July 16, 2021 through August 1, 2021 in eight different locations in New York and New Jersey in order to simplify the process and allow our community to find out more about this amazing campaign #Hope4Shahin, educate the public, and establish a bone marrow registry for our Persian community to not only save the life of Dr. Shahin Nouri but others who will undoubtedly also need such similar lifesaving match in the future. We are hopeful you can help!

We have further planned a Zoom event to educate the public by having Dr. Ron Jacob of Be The Match discuss these lifesaving banks and procedures and answer all of your questions regarding the facts and the myths of becoming a bone marrow donor. So you can rest assured that your help here will help someone else live to see another day!

The Zoom Event with Dr. Ron Jacob is scheduled for Thursday, July 15, 2021 at 8:00p.m.

We thank all the below businesses for their continued support of our Persian community here in the tri-state area and allowing us to use their locations for this chance to help others!

Schedule of Upcoming Drives by IAS and Be The Match:

Thursday, July 15, 2021 at 8:00p.m. - Zoom Event with Dr. Ron Jacob of Be The Match

Friday, July 16, 2021 from 8:00p.m. to 10:00p.m. - Brookville Reformed Church, 2 Brookville Road, Glen Head, New York 11545

Saturday, July 17, 2021 from 5:30p.m. to 8:30p.m. - Kabob on the Cliff located at 23 Godwin Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450

Sunday, July 18, 2021 from 4:30p.m. to 7:30p.m. - Pardis Persian Grill located at 47 East Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, New Jersey 07450

Thursday, July 22, 2021 from 5:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. - Ravagh Persian Grill (Upper Eastside) located at 1135 First Avenue, New York, New York 10065

Sunday, July 25, 2021 from 5:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. - Ravagh Persian Grill (Long Island) located at 210 Mineola Avenue, Roslyn Heights, New York 11577

Wednesday, July 28, 2021 from 5:00p.m. to 8:00p.m. - Ravagh Persian Grill (Midtown) located at 173 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016

Saturday, July 31, 2021 from 10:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. - Holmdel Township Recreation located at 4 Crawfords Corner Road, Holmdel, New Jersey 07733

Sunday, August 1, 2021 from 12:00p.m. to 4:00p.m. - Christopher Morley Park located at 500 Searingtown Road, Roslyn, New York 11576

WE THANK EVERYONE WHO CAN BE AT THESE LOCATIONS WITH US AS VOLUNTEERS AND/OR LIFESAVING DONORS.

For questions or inquiries, please email us at help@IASNewYork.org.

With Gratitude,

IAS Board of Directors

Shahin Nouri M.D.

Dear friends and family: 

As many of you might know, last spring I was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of Lymphoma. Unfortunately, my doctors have now discovered that I have developed a second form of Lymphoma, as well as severe immunodeficiency as a result of the disease.

For those of you who may have been forwarded this email, I am 57 years old, a doctor of neurology, and the Founder and Director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at NYP- Brooklyn Methodist Hospital.

Although, I am receiving excellent care at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC, at this point, my ONLY hope of survival is a “stem cell transplant” from the blood of a healthy compatible donor, which would create a new immune system in my body within the next few months.

The odds of finding a suitable match among people of the same ethnic background are far greater, but sadly, donors of Iranian/Persian ethnicity are far and few in the databanks. And so, I am reaching out to you.

The National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) is a registry for volunteers who have their data saved in case their stem cells or bone marrow can save a patient like me. Today, their Be The Match® (https://bethematch.org) registry of donors for patients who need a hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) has grown to include support for all types of cellular therapy.

Be The Match® is focused on donors aged 18-44. If you are in good health and willing to be tested as a potential donor, you can find all the information about being tested and the process of donating here: join the registry online. Or you can join in person at a donor registry drive.  

After you join, they sent you a kit for a gum swab and determination of “HLA typing”. Other factors eg blood type don’t matter. Returning the kit is all you need to do. Next time that MSK hospital runs a search on my behalf, if you are a match you will be found! The process itself will include the extraction of certain cells from the blood, during a short “ultrafiltration” process, and not a bone marrow or blood transfusion per se. This will be done at a center close to you or at Memorial Sloan Kettering in NYC.

Please consider volunteering to be a donor; not just for me and my survival, but for humanity and all patients of our ethnic background whose lives can be saved.

Please feel free to spread the word…

With all my best,

Shahin

----------------------

Shahin Nouri M.D.

https://www.shahinswings.org

Doctor of Neurology and the Founder and
Director of The Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
at New York Methodist Hospital