Post by Debs on Jun 25, 2010 12:13:24 GMT -5
Dear SG friends,
I have a special request to make of you. I spent yesterday in a meeting with my aunt who has a condition closely related to leukemia. It was a screening meeting to see if she would be a good candidate for a bone marrow transplant. A bone marrow transplant is the only cure for her condition; without it her body will produce less and less functioning blood cells and platelets, and she will die of infection or bleeding , probably within the next two years.
Unfortunately, she is not a candidate to even consider bone marrow transplant because in a registry of 12 million potential donors, there is not a single match for her.
A bone marrow transplant comes from live donors. While the procedure does require anesthesia, and can leave you sore, bone marrow is something that your body naturally replaces within a few weeks. Almost any healthy person between the ages of 18 and 60 can donate. The screening test to look for a match requires a simple cheek swab. The cost to register a new donor is $52, but if you can't afford it they will send you the kit for free.
If you are willing to become part of the registry, please visit www.bethematch.org to sign up as a donor. It does require some personal information to register, simply so that they can find you again if there is a match for you.
My aunt has two adopted teenage daughters. She is a single mom, and her extended family consists of my parents and siblings. Once she is gone, her children will be raised by my sister (with our help). We are all heartbroken right now. If you have any interest at all, please take the first step and register as a donor. Chances are slim that it will help my aunt, but the more people who register, the more who could be saved this heartache.
MTA: you cannot donate if you are expecting, but you can still complete the process to join the registry. They will just defer using it until you finish your pregnancy.
I have a special request to make of you. I spent yesterday in a meeting with my aunt who has a condition closely related to leukemia. It was a screening meeting to see if she would be a good candidate for a bone marrow transplant. A bone marrow transplant is the only cure for her condition; without it her body will produce less and less functioning blood cells and platelets, and she will die of infection or bleeding , probably within the next two years.
Unfortunately, she is not a candidate to even consider bone marrow transplant because in a registry of 12 million potential donors, there is not a single match for her.
A bone marrow transplant comes from live donors. While the procedure does require anesthesia, and can leave you sore, bone marrow is something that your body naturally replaces within a few weeks. Almost any healthy person between the ages of 18 and 60 can donate. The screening test to look for a match requires a simple cheek swab. The cost to register a new donor is $52, but if you can't afford it they will send you the kit for free.
If you are willing to become part of the registry, please visit www.bethematch.org to sign up as a donor. It does require some personal information to register, simply so that they can find you again if there is a match for you.
My aunt has two adopted teenage daughters. She is a single mom, and her extended family consists of my parents and siblings. Once she is gone, her children will be raised by my sister (with our help). We are all heartbroken right now. If you have any interest at all, please take the first step and register as a donor. Chances are slim that it will help my aunt, but the more people who register, the more who could be saved this heartache.
MTA: you cannot donate if you are expecting, but you can still complete the process to join the registry. They will just defer using it until you finish your pregnancy.