Among thousands attending Marian Days is a doctor who hopes to raise the number of Vietnamese on the National Bone Marrow Registry.

"I feel if we raise awareness, and we register people, we save someone else's life.  It would be something positive out of something that's such a horrible situation," said Dr. Anh Reiss.

It's a horrible situation she knows too well.

Earlier in the year Reiss was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer and given only four years to live unless she finds a stem cell donor.

But out of more than a million on the registry, only 15,000 are Vietnamese.

"Anyone who is Vietnamese affected by a blood cancer and needs a stem cell transplant, they're at a disadvantage because they are so few people registered," said Reiss.

More than 100,000 are expected to attend Marian Days, but yet,  the numbers are still stacked against those who need a bone marrow transplant. 

It takes one in every 50,000 people to find a valid donor match.

So, Doctor Reiss and a team of volunteers are trying to get more Vietnamese registered.

They say most simply have a lack of knowledge on the need.

"Whenever we talk about it, they are like, wow, I didn't know about it.  They are so happy to do it.  It's just, they never knew about it," said volunteer and doctor Minhly Nguyen.

Even as a doctor, Reiss says she didn't realize the need until she became a victim.

"I'm not surprised that most wouldn't know because even though I'm a physician I did not know," said Reiss.

But as the group spreads its message at Marian Days, that is slowly changing as more are signing up.

"It feels kind of good to walk out of here.  Maybe there's a chance I can help somebody stay alive," said Trieu Nguyen who signed up to be a donor.

And who knows, maybe that one person saved is Doctor Reiss, who's working so hard to save others.

So far Doctor Reiss' group has signed up nearly 4,000 Vietnamese since February.

She hopes to up that by another thousand or so by the end of Marian Days.

For more information on the group's work, and information on how to register to be a donor click their website at www.teamanh.org

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