Being a bone marrow donor

This past Monday, I went to the blood lab and gave a sample for HLA testing for inclusion in the world-wide bone marrow donor list.

I felt I needed to do this because of what has happened in the past to my family.

In 2002, one of my sisters was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia. In fact, it's so rare that for her age (38) and her being a female, her chances of getting it were one in one million.

The news was devastating of course. She had two small children, a husband, and a home with a hefty mortgage.

So they started chemo treatments, which did nothing for her except make her sick.

Her oncologist suggested a bone marrow transplant. So her four siblings (me included) went for HLA testing to see if one of us was a match. I was the perfect match for her and the procedure was scheduled. In January of 2005, my sister received my bone marrow, she stayed in hospital for three more weeks and, to this day, has made a full recovery (knock on wood).

Every day, I'm thankful that I was able to help my sister and that I was able to do this one small thing for her.

Although I donated the marrow to my sister, I was not automatically put on the global bone marrow donor list. I had to do that separately and that's why I had my HLA testing done on Monday.