My experience donating stem cells
pearlleff.com
My experience donating stem cells
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#2> Donating stem cells was a moving experience. A teacher I had in high school used to say that everyone has an abundance of something in life, be it money, connections, friends, confidence, or something else, and that everyone should use their abundance to help others. Donating stem cells felt like a way to express gratitude for my own health by giving it to another person.
A beautiful sentiment. The world would be a better place were everyone to think this way.
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#3Great read.
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#4[deleted]
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#5I recently registered for Blood Stem Cell Donation in Australia (already a regular plasma donor).
Something I found particularly funny about the process was that the registry here (https://strengthtogive.org.au/register/) offers you the opportunity to get a cheek-swab registration kit mailed to you
…only to tell you on the next page that they have huge demand for the kits but the state/federal government haven’t approved their use :(
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#6Let’s share our local/national equivalents of Gift of Life, where you can register and potentially donate:
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#7Let’s share our local/national equivalents of Gift of Life, where you can register and potentially donate:
Germany: DKMS (Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei) https://www.dkms.de/
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#8Let’s share our local/national equivalents of Gift of Life, where you can register and potentially donate:
UK: Anthony Nolan - https://www.anthonynolan.org/
Or if you're already a blood donor you can join the British Bone Marrow Registry at your next donation - https://www.bbmr.co.uk/joining-the-register/
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#9Great read, congratulations on giving someone another chance at life. Donating stem cells is one of the most unambiguously selfless things a person can do.
About 2 years ago my dad was diagnosed with ALS, a particularly aggressive form of Leukemia. About 30-40% of patients die within a year (at least based on the research my dad did) if they don't get a stem cell transplant. Thankfully my Dad had two brothers that were perfect matches. The one who ended up coming down was extremely trypanophobic, it wasn't a pleasant experience for him either, but two years later and my Dad's still kicking.
Hopefully whoever gets your cells has just as much luck. Either way they're lucky to have you!
Re: My experience donating stem cells
#10Both my father and uncle had acute leukemia three years ago. Their brothers went in for a check, but were not a match for stem cell transplants. Luckily, for both there was a match with a random stranger who went through the effort to donate their stem cells such as what happened in this blog post.
I can absolutely recommend everyone to register as a stem cell donor. Thanks to these random matches my father lives on.
As a random fun fact: he got to write one letter to the donor, who got to write one letter back. You never get their contact details, and don't even know in which country they live. Needless to say, tears were shed over the short letter conversation back and forth.