I volunteered to be on the national bone marrow donor registry today. I wasn’t aware there was such a thing until a few weeks ago. Twin baby boys in a nearby stake have a blood disease that will claim their lives if a suitable bone marrow donor is not found soon, so all the surrounding stakes are holding drives for people to find out if their bone marrow is similar enough to the twins’ to be of use. The test is simple enough: you rub cotton swabs on the inside of your cheeks, then the swabs are sent to a lab to find out if your tissue is similar enough to that of any patients needing donors. Even if I’m not a suitable donor for the twins, my data will be kept in a registry in case it matches someone else who needs a donor.
When the drive was initially announced in church, I understood that I would need to donate blood in order to be tested. We were later informed that that wouldn't be necessary, but before I learned that I was prepared to give blood in order to be on the registry. That was a big decision for me. I absolutely-from-the-bottom-of-my-soul hate needles, and the only time I ever tried to give blood it was a traumatic and fruitless experience (they couldn’t even get enough to use what they took), but I was determined to be tested no matter what I had to go through. If my baby was sick I would be desperate for anyone and everyone to be tested, and with that on my mind there was no question that I had to go today. The odds of finding a suitable donor are long, but with God all things are possible.
5 comments:
As a parent whose child has received a blood transplant, I appreciate your willingness to donate. As a fellow needle-phobe, I appreciate your willingness to donate. I am ashamed to say that I went to donate blood for the first time EVER last Friday. I was so nervous that my heart rate was 136 BPM and I was informed that in order to donate, it would have to be below 100. It didn't help that I was extremely nervous as well as reading the last 100 pages of Harry Potter. After practicing some deep breathing for 10 minutes my heart rate dropped to 116 BPM (this is actually normal for me, I have a very high heart rate for some reason although I had it checked out and was deemed perfectly healthy). To make a long story short, they turned me away. Much to my surprised I was actually disappointed that I wasn't able to donate.
Do you find that your, to put it nicely, intense dislike of needles has lessened after you had Joy? Sometimes donating with a purpose in mind, such as in your instance, gives us more courage. I know that thinking of my daughter was a driving force in getting me through those doors. I loved this post and I admire you all the more for it.
I second that admiration thing. I'll be sure to keep this family in my prayers, too.
Joy did indirectly decrease my dislike of needles. During the course of pregnancy and delivery, I was pierced so many times that I've kind of gotten used to it. In a still-don't-like-it sort of way.
That being said, I still generally avoid blood drives, partly out of squeamishness, but also because I have low iron and low blood pressure (which is probably why they couldn't get much from me last time and had to throw out what little they extracted).
I'm glad you didn't have to donate blood in the end. I too, have had REALLY traumatic experiences donating blood and the last time I did it I got a letter a few months later saying they couldn't use it anyway.
I was willing to donate this time but got a rhogam shot in February so they couldn't use my blood. That was my lucky out but I was able to at least get on the bone marrow registry. I'm glad you made it down there!
Yeah - it's like being kicked when you're down if they can't even use what you struggle to give.
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