Donating Blood, Marrow, And Stem Cells

Hey, all. Just a quick post I thought I would share before I called it a night. A friend from work told me today that after weeks of testing it’s been deermined that her daughter has some form of cancer that will require ongoing medical treatment to cure. Apparently, they don’t believe it will be fatal, and they have identified it in time to treat it properly. Still, this stuff is so scary and it can hit so close to home. It’s like that Vegas shooting, my cousin was the brides maid for a girl here in Arizona that was shot at that concert. The Dr’s had told the husband they didn’t think she would rebound and he would need to make a decision to pull th plug or not. She was in a coma after taking a gun shot to the brain. In some meraculous fashion, she has recovered beyond expectations. She will need years of rehab and they don’t know if she will ever recover many cognitive functions. Not to get side tracked by another story, but these things just seem to hit too close to home. As a mom with a zoo of kids and a family I love, I can’t imagine facing situations like either of these. So when my coworker told me about her daughter I burst into tears and felt so sad in my heart for her. I could not imagine dealing with this or even watching my little girl deal with this. But I would have to be strong like any mother would and see to it that we cured the disease and recover to the best of our capabilities. You don’t think about the little everyday things that you can do to help these people, from giving blood at a local blood drive to making sure you are a registered organ donor and signing up to be a bone marrow transplant donor. For my friend’s daughter, she needs a bone marrow transplant and will require a blood transfusion also. So what does it take to donate? I don’t know exactly but I included those links above for anyone who wants to particiate in saving lives. This stuff seems to be abundant lately and I don’t know if it’s somethign in the water, the air, our food supply, or all of the above? It seems like when I was younger we knew of people that died occasionally of cancer or some weird disease, now it seems like there are people everywhere suffering from these illnesses and it would be amazing if enough of us stepped up to the plate and donated blood, marrow, or organs in passing. When I die I want my organs to be donated to someone in need, gut me and burn me. Use the ash from my incinerated body to fertalize a tree and grow one in my memory. I don’t know, I’m rambling now but I think we could all do more to give back to those in need. I have been fortunate enough in my life that I and my loved ones have not ever had any serious health issues. I lost my older brother to a drunk driver when he was 25 and that was the most hurtful experience in my life. Thank God for my family, my husband, and my children for helping me through it. I wouldn’t want someone else to live through that experience of losing a loved one if I could help it. So I have gone out of my way to register as an organ donor, I give blood every other month, and I am going to become a stem cell and bone marrow donor this year. That’s it, til next time friends!