My uncle is dying. He has an extremely rare form of blood cancer called chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis. My uncle Dick has to get blood transfusions every month now just to keep his energy level up. He has a young 13 year old son. The average survival rate of this type of cancer is 3.5-5.5 years. Chemotherapy and radiation do not help this type of cancer. The only thing that has a slight chance of curing it is a complete bone marrow transplant. Even at that it isn't a guarentee.
Why am I writing this blog? I'm asking for help. My mom and my other uncle are not bone marrow matches and my grandparents are too old. The cancer is bad enough now that they are looking for a bone marrow match. I would get tested, but I can't due to medical reasons. There's a really quick and painless way to find out if you are a bone marrow match for anyone on the transplant list. It's called BeThe Match http://marrow.org/Home.aspx. You register on their website and they mail you a kit. All you do is swab the inside of your mouth and mail it back to them. I've never thought about doing something like this until it struck this close to my family. If this were your brother, uncle, father or mom wouldn't you want everyone possible to get tested? I know I do.
(My uncle Dick)
Done! I just signed up. Thank you for informing us about this site and your uncle.
ReplyDeleteIt is perfect timing in my life to do this ... Coincides perfectly.