Hi Jim, I didn’t even know about the bone marrow drive or I would have been there! Can I still donate? I live very close to Auburn and my dh is a police officer. I am going to ask if he knows you. Wish he could have been there too so he could talk with you Jim. You are truly a holy example of our faith. What a wonderful daughter you have! I am glad that it was a good turn out too. I’m hoping and praying that the women who hosted the event will come back to the Church. I will continue to pray for you and your family in Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament. God bless you!
Well, praise God! And, thank you (and all who are praying!) for your prayers! The good news is that anyone may go to
BeTheMatch.org and request a kit by mail. Using that kit, they can be placed on the registry and possibly save a life. The drive was a convenient method to register, but it can be just as easy by mail.
Donating bone marrow is actually quite easy. It is basically like receiving an injection in your hip bone, except it is an extraction rather than an injection. You walk in and walk out. No surgery. There is a dull pain in your bone for 1-2 seconds, but it stops the instant the donation is taken. And, if they actually take a donation, it is directed at saving the life of a person on the list. Even if you register, you are not obligated to donate, but I think that most would be happy to, since the life-saving ratio is very near 1:1!
In my case, there is an extremely slim chance that I have a match anywhere in the world, since my immune system has many unique features. However, two good points arise from this: 1. Someone who is needing marrow at this time may now have a match because of the drive, and 2. I don’t need marrow at this time. My oncologist told me that those who are in remission from the experimental drug I am on have just as good of an outcome as those who undergo the autologous transplant procedure.
The stem-cell transplant is basically a last resort, as one must, in essence, be killed by total body irradiation, then receive the transplanted marrow in order to begin producing blood cells again and grow a new immune system. Even then, as with any transplant, ‘Graft vs. Host’ disease is involved. It can be so serious that it threatens the life of the patient by itself. For that exact reason, having a broad donor base is extremely important. The closer the match, the less graft vs. host disease there will be.
Since the drug I am on has been so amazingly successful, and does not require the extreme measures of a transplant, it is far preferable. As well, some who receive transplants have their cancer immediately relapse, so it is not a cure-all, and remains experimental. If course, I am basically also an experiment, since the medical world is watching what happens to us who are on this drug. I have now been on this drug the 5th longest of any user. A man in France has been on it for three and one half years. That his cancer is still in remission is very good to know, since I am arriving at the two year point.
But, the miraculous medicine that I receive daily is prayer, and for that I can offer only to return prayer. Amen.
Jim