Well the one year anniversary of my donation was 2 months ago and the other day at work i received the contact info for my recipient. I had given my consent already, but she had not yet received my info. I went ahead and called her. She lives in North Carolina so after the fall cave-in this year Graham and I are going to try and head over that way and see her. She said had she not gotten the stem cell transplant then the doctors had given her 1 year to live. She joked that my cells were so good that she didn't even get a cold this winter. We had a nice conversation and now I have a new friend (practically an older twin now that she has my cells) for life.
I still urge everyone to contact there local blood donation center or
www.marrow.org and register for the bone marrow registry. I recently found out the following info:
Percentage of ethnic groups on the national registry
African American 7.8%
Asian/Pacific Islander 5.7%
Hispanic 7.1%
Native American 1.6%
Caucasian 71.5%
So I'm not saying if you are caucasian, not to register, but more like, if you are considered a minority, they really need you, please register. Encourage your family, friends, and co-workers to register. When the blood mobile was at my work I arranged for a bone marrow registry drive as well. Even my 19 year old niece registered when she came to visit me last month. And again, if anyone has questions, do not hesitate to ask me.
Thanks for everyone for being supportive of me the last year.
"Blessed are they who learn from their mistakes. For they shall make, if not necessarily fewer of them, different and more interesting ones."
"It's the good girls who keep diaries; the bad girls never have the time." - Tallulah Bankhead