Opportunity to make a difference

It is a great privilege to be given an opportunity to make a difference in someone's life, much less save their life. I was recently asked to attempt to do so.

Four years ago, my father passed away after a tough yearlong battle with Leukemia. Soon after he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML), we were told that only chance he had was to get a bone marrow (stem cell) transplant from a matching donor. However, finding a suitable donor would be nearly impossible, since he did not have any full siblings, and there were very few South Asians in the bone marrow registry. Surprisingly, the doctors were able to find a match in the registry and my father was able to get the transplant. Ultimately, the transplant did not work and he passed away. However, my family was immensely grateful to the anonymous donor who tried to help someone s/he did not know. I hoped that someday, I could do the same for a patient and so I registered with the National Bone Marrow Program.

Almost 3 years later, the time has come. I was found to be a match for a forty-something year-old woman with AML. That’s all I will ever know about the patient. Over the next few weeks, I will undergo further testing and preparation for the donation. I think of this as a privilege. Considering what the patient has likely endured thus far and will go through, my part seems trivial. It is not too often that you are given the chance to possibly make a big difference in someone’s life.

Are you a part of the bone marrow registry? Do you know how easy it is to join? I call out to everyone, especially South Asians, to join the registry, as South Asians are significantly under-represented in the registry. Check out marrow.org for more information. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a note.