On April 12, 2010, I received a call from Patty from the Colorado Marrow Donor Program explaining that I might be a match for a patient. I went down to Denver to have some secondary blood tests done that would determine whether I was a match or not. All of the paper work that they had sent me said that it's rare to be a match, so I should not get my hopes up. However, Patty said that the odds were really good based on my preliminary tests - so my hopes were up. Way up.
They told me that it would be at least 6 weeks before I would hear anything, so all I could do was wait. About 2 months later I got a letter from the Bone Marrow Donor Program stating that for any number of reasons, my patient was not going to have a transplant. This could be for one of three reasons. The patient's condition got better and didn't need a transplant. The patient's condition got worse and couldn't handle a transplant at this time. Or the all-encompassing "some other reason". All they could tell me is that they didn't need me at this time.
Needless to say, I was sad. I wanted to believe that the patient's condition got better, but I couldn't help but think that it got worse. And despite the fact that this was supposed to be a selfless act, I was sad that I couldn't help out.
On Saturday, July 10th, I received another call from Patty. The patient was ready for a transplant! I was thrilled. What I felt when I got that call was simply overwhelming. My patient was alive, and I was going to help him or her get better. I didn't know who (s)he was. I didn't know where (s)he lived. I didn't care. I just wanted to be part of the process of giving him or her a second chance.
Patty explained that the doctor had chosen a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell transplant rather than a Bone Marrow Transplant. For a full explanation of the difference, keep reading this blog!
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