My donation experience...

I donated bone marrow recently, and thought I would share my experience here.



It was an amazing, incredible experience.

Back in 1997, when I was an airman in the United States Air Force, I joined the CW Bill Young DOD Bone Marrow Registry at a donor drive on base.  And then I never really thought about it again over the years.  Sure occasionally it would come up, if somebody would mention the registry I would remember I had joined...but I never really thought much about it.

Then, 17 years later, I received a letter at the end of January telling me that I might be a match for a patient with leukemia.  Three weeks later I went to a local center to have blood drawn for more testing to see how close of a match I was for this patient.  I was told it would be 4-13 weeks before I heard anything more.

Exactly two weeks later, on March 4th, I got a call.  I was the best match for this donor and they needed me to donate bone marrow on March 31st.  On top of that, they needed me to fly to Washington D.C. for a physical within a few days to make sure I was medically cleared for the donation.  It was a lot to take in and process.

I flew to D.C. for a quick trip a few days later.  My physical was March 10th and I returned home that night.  It was a really fast trip, but it was very nice.  I felt very taken care of and appreciated by everybody I encountered. 

A few days later I received news that I was medically cleared for the donation and travel arrangements were made.  The DOD Donor Program arranged for my husband, my daughter and I to fly to Washington D.C. for 6 nights.  They provided all transportation, hotel arrangements and food for the trip.  While there, I had 5 days of injections to prepare my body for the stem cell donation.  On the 5th day, I donated stem cells through a process called PBSC.  It was kind of like donating blood, only it took about 6 hours and was a bit more uncomfortable.  It was not nearly as bad as the old bone marrow surgery that used to be required.  All in all, it was slightly uncomfortable for the entire 5 days, and a few days after...but it was well worth it!


While we were there, we were able to do some sightseeing, and had a really nice time.  Everybody was super kind and generous to us.  I felt entirely too spoiled.  It was a wonderful experience!

       
Here is a picture of me and my bone marrow...before it was sent off with a courier to the recipient.  I have no idea where it went, but it was sent off with many prayers for the recipient!