Michelle Maykin Dies

July 27, 2009

Some sad news. Over the weekend, Michelle Maykin died. Her fight against leukemia inspired a nationwide outreach campaign to register bone marrow donors.

Maykin was 27. She was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2007 and after chemotherapy went into remission, but relapsed in 2008.

She dedicated herself to educating people about the importance of bone marrow donors, particularly among racial minority groups. She started Project Michelle, which has helped register more than 18,000 bone marrow donors.

Funeral services will be Saturday in San Jose. Details will be posted on the Project Michelle blog.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.