A couple of years ago, I joined the Be The Match registry. Basically, when you join they send you a swab kit in the mail and you swab your cheeks and mail it back to them. Then you become a part of the registry, and when a patient is in need of a bone marrow or stem cell transplant, you are one of the thousands of donors to choose from.
I was at the beach with my family a month ago and received an email that said I was a possible match for a 7-year-old girl and that I needed to call them as soon as possible. I called them up and answered what seemed like 200 questions, and they asked when I could go get my blood drawn to do some more conclusive tests. Only a small amount of people on the registry go on to be donors (my rough estimate was around 1 in 100). It's weird, but I almost felt like I had won a lottery. Not only was I chosen, but I was going to be able to help a child.
I went the following week to my local hospital and had about 5 vials of blood drawn. The girl who drew my blood asked if I was getting paid for doing this and I said no and couldn't think of anything else to follow that up with. Honestly, I can't think of a more meaningful way to spend my work sabbatical than to give a child my bone marrow. I would want someone to do the same for my family members.
A few weeks after my blood was drawn, I received a call from someone at the registry, and she informed me that I was an exact match for the little girl. She said for small children, a bone marrow transplant is recommended over the stem cell transplant, so I would be giving my bone marrow if I agreed to go forward. Are you kidding? Of course I wanted to do this. This is my chance to help save the life of a little girl. I can't imagine getting cold feet at this stage and saying I couldn't do it.
So today, I signed my last consent form. I am going to UAB in Birmingham to have a physical next week. Then I will have the bone marrow extracted on August 13. They are putting me up in a hotel room the night before the physical as well as the night before the procedure and the night of the procedure, and they are reimbursing my mileage and meals. I'm really excited about this opportunity.
They said I will be given updates about the girl at 1 month and 3 months, and that I will be able to meet her after one year. I'm not sure if I would want to do that. I think I like it better as an anonymous donation. But it will be really awesome to get to hear updates about her. Hopefully. I can't imagine what she and her family must be going through right now. In the 9 days before the bone marrow transplant, I was told she will go through really intense chemo and radiation to try to wipe out as much of the cancer as possible. So her body will be extremely weak when she receives my bone marrow, and my healthy cells will hopefully help her body recover from the intense treatment. At a time when she should be starting 2nd grade, she will be recovering from chemo. That just makes my heart so sad.
Whenever I start to worry about the pain of the procedure, I just think of how much more pain she and her family are in, and it helps to put things in perspective. God I hope I can help her precious little soul.
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