Katipunero Louie Bonpua

Louie Bonpua is a 36 year old Filipino man from the Bay Area diagnosed with a rare chronic myelogenous leukemia. It has been over 4 years since his original diagnosis, and Louie is still waiting for a good matching donor. Since the characteristics of marrow are genetically inherited, his match is likely to be a Filipino donor. What makes him inspirational is he continues to educate the community about leukemia and encourages other Filipinos to get typed for the bone marrow registry while continuing his treatment with a hectic triathlon schedule. He has done almost 30 races since 1999. Visit his personal website, Shrimp Louie, for more information about Louie Bonpua. To get blood typed, contact the Asian American Donor Program at 1-800-59-DONOR or visit their site at http://www.aadp.org/.

Louie Bonpua, Filipino American triathlete from Milpitas, died of leukemia, last January 22. Bonpua died hours after carrying the Olympic torch in San Francisco. He was 37. (Source: Filipinas, March 2002)