When I was nine I had a best friend named Tanya. She was a smart girl, very friendly and funny, and she had brain cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and bone marrow transfers and almost survived - but didn't. So, when my kids were born, I did my best to get their cord blood donated so the stem cells could be used to help sick kids. And then, when I was in DC for a memorial for C.O.P.S. after my brother died a few years back and there was a National Marrow Donor Program truck outside the memorial area, I made sure to give them a swipe of spit and my contact info so that in the unlikely event I was a match for some sick kid, they could find me.
That was three years ago - today I got the e-mail that I might be a match. At first, I hesitated, knowing that marrow donation is painful and that I have a needle phobia. When I was in the hospital a few months ago for a migraine and they had to do a spinal tap to rule out a brain hemorrhage, I was all but hysterical.
Then I thought about the person who might need my marrow - how they are being stuck with way worse than just one needle, and how they could die - really die- without a transplant. So I bit the bullet and called the NMDP response line... now we wait.
Be the match.
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