(Calling all readers: Take a simple, painless test to save a life.)
Roger Pinnell started his first band in San Diego when he was 19. Throughout 1981 and ’82, he sang in Violation 5 and later The Brood, with bass player Chuck Cole and other friends. The Brood’s most memorable show was at the North Park Lions Club, where they opened for The Misfits.
When he moved to San Francisco in 1985, Roger formed Piglatin with bass player Donnie Diaz, another veteran of the early San Diego underground. The band released two records, and Roger briefly led a lineup of Piglatin in New York City. For the last several years he has concentrated on writing fiction and lives in San Francisco.
Since the summer of 2008, Roger has been battling a rare blood cancer, mantle cell lymphoma. He recently had a relapse and needs a bone-marrow transplant in order to beat this. His doctors at UCSF Medical Center are still searching for a donor. Roger is asking anyone who is willing and able to explore this link for the National Marrow Donor Registry and follow the steps to “Join The Registry.”
All that’s required to join is a simple cheek swab, which the Registry will send to your home in a kit.
National Marrow Donor Program — Be The Match Marrow Registry
If you’re not a match for Roger, you may be a match for someone else with blood cancer who needs a transplant to survive. When a donor is a match, marrow cells are collected from blood drawn through an IV, a process similar to giving blood or plasma — not by going into the bone, which is a common misconception.
Roger and his family thank everyone, especially those in San Diego, who have offered their support so far.
For more on Roger’s writing and music, visit http://www.rogerpinnell.com/.
Roger,
I was at the Lions Club show.
I will go to the link and sign up for a test.
I will keep you in my thoughts.
Darn it! I didn’t meet the health guidelines outlined in the form. (I have some orthopedic issues for which I’m getting physical therapy, plus pins from an old break.)
I bet these won’t really disqualify me if I talk to a live person about them. I am going to call the toll-free number on Monday to try to get on the list anyway.
This is important. We’re all going to be running into more medical needs as time goes on, and we’re stronger if we face them together. Please join in here.
So glad to see Roger’s story here. He’s always been a man with a stellar intellect and incredible energy, and the friendships he forged “back in the day” continue because of his genuine heart.
For the radical among you, the bone marrow registry is really a form of communal health care -- everyone pitches in to help those in need. So don’t let anti-establishment ideals get in the way of helping this organization.
Pitching in by registering is the easiest part, but that easy donation is truly the key to saving a life. How amazing is that!
Please register. I’m asking selfishly because I want Roger to be around for a long time. I hadn’t registered before either, but now I understand the urgency and encourage all of you to join whether you know Roger or not. You could save a life.
Thanks for posting this. I just registered and donated, and encourage others to do so as well.
Small World! My old band, The Whitefronts, played a gig with Piglatin in San Francisco in the mid-80s. They used amplified shopping carts, if memory serves.
I thought you might want to know -- Roger died last week, Thursday 4/19. He fought to the very end. When treatment options were no longer available in SF, his brother brought him to UCSD for another round of chemo. This was not successful, and he died at the UCSD hospital with family and friends at his side.
I was sad to read this today, I had no idea. He was an old friend, we performed on the same stages in the 1980’s, I sat in with Pig Latin a few times. Roger ended up taking a year of singing lessons with me in I think 2009, he was going to move to NY and make a new recording…
May he truly rest in peace.