Your Christmas Present to Me

This post is about 4 years overdue. But in the Christmas spirit of giving, it's better late than never.

I have a "gift" suggestion for you! It's something you can give to a complete stranger, it means MORE than any other gift, and it's FREE!

I work for the Leukemia/Bone Marrow Transplant Program of BC. Since I am in the data department, I read every paper that goes in the patient's charts. I read about (and do statistics about) their life expectancy. I enter their relapse dates, I read the family councilling papers of people who are not coping well with their disease.

I also read about their treatments. We do bone marrow transplants for all types of Leukemia, bone cancers and other cancers.

Sometimes, a patient's own cells can get extracted, treated and reinfused. Other times, that's not possible, so they need a donor.

In the past, the stem cells needed for the transplant were extracted from the hip bones of donors. But now, with the research that's been done lately, most of the donors only have to donate their blood.

The best case scenario is if the donor has the exact same genetic type as a brother or sister. It's a 25% chance (I believe). If the siblings are not genetically matched, we need to search for an "unrelated donor" who has the exact genetics as the patient. The genetics of the unrelated donors are in a database, which we can search. If we find someone who has the exact same genetics, they are given the option to donate their stem cells to our patient, possibly saving his life!

If an unrelated donor is not found, then the patient will not get the best treatment for their disease. I've seen this time and time again, and I can't recall a single patient who beat his disease without the transplant he needed. If the "unrelated donor registry" had more people in it, maybe a donor could have been found. Maybe you have the same genetics as him.

Recently, I witnessed for the first time, an unrelated donor donating some of her blood/stem cells so a stranger could live, and she was smiling. It moved me to tears. What an AWESOME gift, to be able to give someone LIFE!

Not a Starbucks gift certificate...not a fancy cell phone...not a candle that when you burn it, it's gone....

LIFE!!!!!

How can there be anything better than that?

In case you've realized how important this is, please visit our program website. It gives information on how you can be put on the donor registry (some exclusions apply).

Please consider this Christmas how you could give someone the best gift they'll ever recieve. Let me know if you decide to do it! It will be the only Christmas present I'll ever need from you.

Blood. It's in you to give.