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I am now a bone marrow donor!!!

This topic has 5 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 15 years, 4 months ago by PupsRule.

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)

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December 17, 2008 at 1:43 am #21710

Kristi S
Member

Hi everyone! I am Paul 36’s wife and we go tomorrow to the hematologist to get some answers on what is causing my husband so many problems with is WBCs and platelets. We have been reading in this forum for weeks based on a “might be” diagnosis from our family MD. Your stories have touched my heart in ways I cannot express. Even if Paul is fine (crossing my fingers) I never realized that I could donate marrow to someone who is not a family member. Now I know differently. I will be receiving my “tissue” kit soon and will send everything back as soon as I get it home and swab my cheeks. I have always been an organ donor, but now I might get a chance to save a life and be alive to know about it. It is an amazing feeling to know I could help someone like many of you. The only sad part about it is that in order to donate, I had to pay money. What kind of world are we living in when we make people pay money to see if they can help save lives??? Anyways, enough about the state of our medical policies. God bless you all and Paul and I will update you tomorrow after our appointment.

Kristi

December 17, 2008 at 2:19 am #21711

Zoe
Member

Thank you for your willingness to donate. There really is something wrong with the system, isn’t there? Best wishes on your husband’s appointment.

Zoe

December 17, 2008 at 9:09 pm #21712

jaxem
Member

Kristi
Good for you!! You should be very proud about what you did. You can save someone’s life. I am impressed.

December 19, 2008 at 4:26 am #21713

PupsRule
Member

Kristi — That is so excellent!!! Congrats. My own brother became a donor awhile back and was called in last week to further testing.

I also discovered that the National Marrow Donor Program offers free testing to anyone who applies for the kit online. We had a physical drive here in San Jose back in November and the donors were asked for a $25 donation to defray the cost of typing, etc. Interestingly, donors from the under-represented cultural/racial backgrounds were not asked to contribute anything more than a cheek swab — NMDP apparently has grant money it applies to associated typing/sampling fees for that group. Everything costs money. Sigh….

December 19, 2008 at 9:20 pm #21714

Kristi S
Member

Quote:

Originally posted by PupsRule:

I also discovered that the National Marrow Donor Program offers free testing to anyone who applies for the kit online.

I applied for my kit online and had to make a payment by credit card…

December 20, 2008 at 4:31 pm #21715

PupsRule
Member

Kristi — I should’ve checked their website. The info was from the lady who ran the marrow drive. Thanks for letting us know!
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