Well, if you found this blog you’re either one of my friends or family members or you’re looking for some information on what it’s really like to donate bone marrow the “old fashioned” way. So, if you don’t know me I guess I should explain a little bit. Through the NMDP I have been matched with a patient needing a bone marrow transplant. When I was first told that the patient’s doctor was requesting a traditional bone marrow donation I, being the self-proclaimed “Queen of Google,” went straight to the internet to try to find a real life story of someone who donated bone marrow the traditional way. There was some information on the NMDP website, but I was looking for a blog or article or something that wasn’t directly affiliated with the NMDP. It’s not that I don’t trust their information because I obviously do; I was just looking for a personal account that wasn’t just a response to several questions that someone from the NMDP was asking.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything from this decade. Anything I could find about traditional bone marrow donation was from the mid to late 1990s; basically when they first started doing bone marrow transplants. I could find plenty of blog posts from people who donated through PBSC because that’s the most common way to donate now. So I decided, with some urging from my boyfriend Cole, to start a blog chronicling my bone marrow donation experiences, so that someone else who’s going through this in the future can see what it was like for me. Throughout the next month I’ll be posting my story so far, and after my donation (on April 23rd) I’ll post my donation experience. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to contact more bone marrow donors who may be interested in sharing their experiences as well so this blog can be a great source of information for someone considering becoming a bone marrow donor!
I Am the Match 