The
whole bone marrow matching and donating process, however routine and
mundane it may seem, actually carries a significant message: that a
precious life can be saved. Bone marrow donation has changed my life and
has even made my character a little more noble!
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Experiences of donor Leigh Anne
Marshall and patient Mandy Burlison (USA)
Leigh Anne Marshall successfully donated marrow for a leukemia patient,
literally saving Mandy Burlison’s life. Burlison lives in New York
State and has relatives in Florida near Marshall. Although they
have written to each other, they will meet for the first time on
February 11, during the national press launch for the seventh annual
SNDD (Saturn National Donor Day).
Marshall said she would encourage others to join the NMDP Registry,
“There is nothing to it. Being the donor is the easiest part.”
Burlison said of her leukemia diagnosis in 1999, “I was overwhelmed. It
felt as if my entire life, everything I loved, was pushed away so far; I
was unable to reach nor touch it.” Over the next year, she
experienced everything “as if it were the last. And now words
can’t describe the gratitude I feel for Leigh Anne, she gave me life.”
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Stefan Bewley donated bone marrow
to save the life of a young boy (USA)
"The full impact of the operation
didn't really hit me until I heard back from the parents in a
letter that said the boy was doing well," said Bewley. "Before
that, it was just me and the doctors, who were certainly caring,
but there wasn't any real emotional content for me. But to have
a parent write to you and tell you that you saved their child's
life is overwhelming, to say the least."
"I think it's a great thing that he
did," said Kenny Von Stein, father of Jacob, a fourth-grader who
now leads a normal, active life. "If Stefan hadn't signed up at
the exact time he did, I don't think it would have turned out so
well. Everything just fell into place for Jake."
