Got a bizarre phone call today. I almost didn't answer because I was walking out the door to see a client, but I thought it might be them so I'd better pick up.
In fact it was not my client. It was the National Bone Marrow Donor Program, telling me that I may be a match for someone who needs a bone marrow transplant, and am I still willing to donate mine?
I didn't even know how they got my name at first, but then I remembered that about 10 years ago everyone in the office at my old job went down to Duke Hospital and got tested because there was a kid that needed a bone marrow transplant. I didn't realize they saved potential donor information permanently, but now that I think about it, duh, of course they do.
The woman on the phone couldn't tell me anything about the person who needs the transplant, except that it's a 31 year old woman with leukemia. I'm 35 so she's almost the same age as me.
They have to do more testing to be sure I'm truly a match for this person. So I have to go to the Red Cross in Greensboro on Tuesday to have blood drawn. Weirdly, they only do this particular testing once a week in each city, and the Durham schedule is 2:30-4 pm on Mondays. Which conflicts with my radio show, so I have to go to Greensboro instead. I don't know why my own doctor's office couldn't do the blood draw, but apparently they don't allow that.
I also don't know why I couldn't go to Raleigh, where I'm sure they have a Red Cross. I think the woman I was talking to wasn't all that familiar with this region, and once we established that Mondays in Durham weren't going to work she just started reading off the names of cities in the Carolinas. Greensboro was the first place she named that wasn't really far away (Charlotte, Columbia, etc) so I kind of jumped on that. Oh well, I like driving. Besides, I always get horribly lost in Raleigh so my travel time may actually be less this way.
I guess they'll tell me on Tuesday what happens next if I am a match. I looked at the Marrow Donor Program website which says that the donation procedure happens under anesthesia and the marrow is "withdrawn from the rear of the pelvic bone," you feel sore like you fell on your tailbone for a few days, and the missing marrow is replenished within a few weeks.
I hope this works out. It would be nice to be able to help someone, especially with so little effort on my part.
3 Comments
sarah, that's so generous of you!!
i have been so affected by the generosity of everyone around me lately... i'm getting teary just thinking of it.
I don't know, it doesn't seem like much because I hardly have to do anything. It's not like I'd be giving her my kidney! To me it's more like donating blood, which I never do because I'm a lazy ass. And also because no one from the Red Cross ever called me up and asked me to :)
Besides, they don't even know for sure if I'm a match yet.
i have a huge fear of needles (had a panic attack the last time i tried to give blood and literally ran away while he was trying to stick me.. i'm better now though) and a huge conceptual gross-out factor over the idea of marrow being withdrawn from my bones, so i've never been able to bring myself to be tested as a marrow donor. so i'm with christa, i think this is very generous!!