An Important Post

Griff and I have a new dentist. I got a new job last year and changed insurance and we didn't love the dentist we had, so I decided to try someone new. I am such a planner and researcher that I couldn't pick just anybody, I had to see if I could find any information about them or reviews from other patients (thank goodness for the internet). Well in doing that, I found out quite a bit of personal information that I wasn't really looking for, but has really touched my heart. My dentist's family has went through a lot of difficult times. Her parents had two daughters and two sons. One son died of cancer as a teenager, my dentist herself battled cancer many years ago, and her sister is still recovering from a bone marrow transplant she had last year to fight her own cancer. It's unbelievable to me that a family would have to face this terrible disease 3 times, that there parents would have to watch 3 children suffer.

I also came across my dentist sister's Christine's blog, documenting the months leading up to her bone marrow transplant as well as the months after. I have to admit I spent time reading all of her entries and became transfixed as I read about all that she been through. Christine is obviously a wonderful, vivacious woman and has come through an amazing fight and fought against the odds to even survive. She's only a few years older than me and I don't know how she had the courage to do what she did, with the grace and optimism that she had.

Most importantly, from reading her blog, I learned about the need for bone marrow donors. Christine never found a perfect match . She did all she could do to sign up donors, looking for her 'miracle match', but never found that person. Instead she underwent the transplant with a partial match, which made her journey even harder and her chances for survival even less. The amazing part is that her partial match was a man from China. Someone literally a world away gave her the chance for a second shot at life. Christine is Filipino and bone marrow is very dependant upon ethnicity for a match, so the odds were very small that Christine would find a donor. Christine made a PSA that explains about the need for more donors, especially people with different ethnic backgrounds.

Griff and I have both decided to join the National Marrow Donor Program. It's really easy to sign up to be a potential donor, all you have to do is swab your cheek and they're able to type your bone marrow. They also ask for $52 to pay for the cost of typing. IF they ever find that you're a match for someone in need, the procedure is relatively minor and literally can save a life. There's no additional cost.

I can't think of a more meaningful way to spend $52. I truly hope that I'm a match for one of the 6000 people currently desparately searching for a donor. I hope that if anyone I ever know is in need of a donor that there will be a match for them. What an extraordinary opportunity.

Oh, and our dentist is wonderful. I haven't been yet, but Griff (who hates dentists) really likes her. He had to have a root canal and crown and he still likes her!