Join the Bone Marrow Donor Registry, I need your help.
81 replies, posted
My friend Jenna has leukemia. This is her second time to get it. Her cancer started as brain cancer when she was 16, and after multiple surgeries, it kept coming back. She finally got rid of it this last year, but shortly after found out that the cancer had spread to her blood. She had brain surgery last summer and chemo during the summer and into the fall semester. The cancer in her brain was removed, but the leukemia came back, and spread to her liver. Over spring break she had surgery to remove the cancer in her liver, and the brain cancer hasn’t come back since her surgery over the summer. But the leukemia did. Now Jenna is in the hospital, getting treated for it. Her doctors have told her that unless she finds a bone marrow donor, she has 7 weeks left. Unfortunately, Jenna has a rare blood type, and she has yet to find a marrow match, which involves matching far more than just blood type.
Anyways, the more people who join the bone marrow registry, the better chance that Jenna has of finding a match, as do many other patients desperately in need of bone marrow. So if you join, get other people to join, maybe Jenna will get to come back to school. Maybe I’ll get to see her again before it’s too late. Jenna’s gone through so much, and I want her life to end in happiness and not defeat, succumbing to a cancer that she could beat with our help.
Keep in mind the requirements listed on the site. Inform yourself, and tell your friends. Thank you. I don't want my friend to die.
[url]http://www.marrow.org/index.html[/url]
Hopefully your friend can get some help, that sounds very horrible.[IMG]http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-saddowns.gif[/IMG]
Cancer sucks. Knowing when you're gonna die sucks. Hospitals suck. But what sucks even more is that people don't care about saving a life by donating marrow.
Well, there can't be just one of me.
I hope she gets better.
Isn't a Bone Marrow Transplant supposedly one of the most painful transplants?
I would but sadly I'm in the UK, so I doubt I can.
[QUOTE=Combin0wnage;31024417]Isn't a Bone Marrow Transplant supposedly one of the most painful transplants?[/QUOTE]
As someone who goes through pain a lot, I have to say, pain is nothing, life is everything. What does a short period of paincompare to giving someone back their life?
As well as the fact that she has 7 weeks to live, she also probably knows it, which would make her life hellish.
A loved one of mine also has cancer, but she luckily (as you could consider it) has a lot longer to live and hasn't been given a definate time frame.
[QUOTE=Combin0wnage;31024417]Isn't a Bone Marrow Transplant supposedly one of the most painful transplants?[/QUOTE]
I think so, I remember seeing a thread about bone marrow transplantation and a lot of people mentioned what it felt like.
But people do it because they want to see people get better. It's a decent thing to do.
i'm so sorry friend :(
[QUOTE=Combin0wnage;31024417]Isn't a Bone Marrow Transplant supposedly one of the most painful transplants?[/QUOTE]
Actually, nowadays for the donor its completely pain free, they give you some meds to make the bone marrow cells get into the blood, and they extract a bit of your blood, and thats it. Even if you are a pussy who rather not feel pain than save a life, now you can donate. Now, for the recipient, its painful. But obviously worth it.
[QUOTE=Combin0wnage;31024417]Isn't a Bone Marrow Transplant supposedly one of the most painful transplants?[/QUOTE]
I'd gladly be willing to go through a few seconds/minutes of excruciating pain to save someone's life.
[QUOTE=RayvenQ;31024456]
As someone who goes through pain a lot[/QUOTE]
Excuse my morbid curiosity but would you care to elaborate?
Hope she comes out alright, my mother is battling breast cancer as well.
[QUOTE=JgcxCub;31027382]Excuse my morbid curiosity but would you care to elaborate?[/QUOTE]
He made a thread on it a while ago, he has severe scoliosis
[QUOTE=Destroyertf;31027206]Actually, nowadays for the donor its completely pain free, they give you some meds to make the bone marrow cells get into the blood, and they extract a bit of your blood, and thats it. Even if you are a pussy who rather not feel pain than save a life, now you can donate. Now, for the recipient, its painful. But obviously worth it.[/QUOTE]
Isn't that a less effective way of gathering bone marrow, though?
Also, in some episode of House, they have to gather bone marrow quickly by using some sort of syringe, do they actually do this?
Hope she gets better, OP.
Aww man that sucks. I wouldn't want to be told when i'm gonna die, because knowing my luck i'd put everything i have into the last weeks of my life, then i live for another few years.
also, i would love to help, but i'm 16 and my health is terrible. :( However, i convinced my mom to join.
Wow man, my condolences to go her.
I hope she gets better.
I'm on the Anthony Nolan register, they're based in the UK but they say our donations can go overseas in some cases, at least according to one of the pages on their website. So for other UK users here's a link to the Nolan Register website, you can sign up here if eligible.
[url]http://www.anthonynolan.org/[/url]
Also, I read you are now put under anasthetic to donate bone marrow now, so just some soreness afterwards then.
I hope your friend finds a donor OP.
[QUOTE=Murkat;31027241]I'd gladly be willing to go through a few seconds/minutes of excruciating pain to save someone's life.[/QUOTE]
I just hope, for your sake, you don't intend to save the world like that.
Especially if it's 5 minutes a pop.
I feel your pain. My cousin died from intestinal cancer last February. She was only 20 it was found. She had only a few months to live after that.
im too young to join the NHS' bone marrow register (only 17, need to be 18) but when i can i'll join :)
They can use the procedure mentioned above, but they usually gather the bone marrow from your pelvic bone using a needle. You go under general anesthesia in an outpatient procedure, and you need about a week to get moving around again, though some people are up and at'em the next day. But like mentioned before, what's a week of being uncomfortable versus a lifetime of...well...life. That being said, it is a surgery, so be aware of that when you register. You don't want to be the dick that says "LOL NO SURGERY WTF" if they come to you with a match. There's a special circle of hell for that. However, the odds of being called upon to actually donate are fairly small. Just be aware that if you are called upon, you will be saving one or more persons' lives.
And that is something to be proud of for the rest of your life.
Signed up. I'll do anything I can to save someones life, especially someone who's gone through so much shit. I wish her the best. Hopefully I'll be a match. Knowing I saved another persons life will feel incredible, and no amount of pain would ever shake me from my decision.
Good luck.
I'm too much of a pussy to give bone marrow (needles and shit really creep me out, esp with bones involved), but I will make sure to donate some blood or plasma next time I have a chance.
I can vouch for the rarity, I've been a donor for a month now, I've still got no word back from them. I had a slightly selfish reason for joining, aside from wanting to help. I wanted to get over my fear of needles by facing it head on, figured I may as well help someone at the same time.
Also on the Anthony Nolan register you may be asked to donate stem cells instead of bone marrow, that's a less painful procedure, however it requires five days or so of hospital visits to get booster injections before you donate.
I'm sorry to hear about your friend OP, I would join the registry right now but one of the requirements is to be in good health and to be fit. Once I get back in shape I will join the registry.
I hope a donor can be found soon.
I'm already on the list and have donated before.
I also donate blood, it feels good to help.
Is marrow another one of those things they won't take from gays
[QUOTE=Zeke129;31039410]Is marrow another one of those things they won't take from gays[/QUOTE]
zeke is afraid of being disqualified :(
i love you zeke
i've donated blood on multiple occasions but i'm too young for marrow
[QUOTE=teh pirate;31039465]zeke is afraid of being disqualified :(
i love you zeke[/QUOTE]
Being told you're not allowed to save somebody else's life because of who you've had sex with is infuriating
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