ranspazzo

I actually got to find out who my donor was after 1 year. She is great! I wrote a very long letter thanking her for saving my life. She was so happy to know that it actually worked. It was great to discuss what each of us had to go through in the process.

That's a great question. I'm not actually a big fan of people calling me brave and strong. I got it a lot when I came back to work and I just took it in stride but it is true. I did what I believe anyone would have done if they were in my situation. I had a daughter that needed her mom and I had a family who would have been devastated if I had passed away. Many of the other cancer survivors I have met through all this felt the same way about the references.

It's hard to really get my point across but I see it as this "strength" and "bravery" is in all of us when we are faced with adversity.

Thanks for the question!

The waiting is hard. My mom and my brother are registered. Neither have been picked. My mother is now too old to donate and I know she was hurt. It's okay because at least you are in the registry and you never know when you could get that call. Thank you for being registered. :)

I was very lucky because I believe it only took about 2 months. There were others at the hospital who have been through many consolidated treatments and were still waiting for a match. Thank you so much for getting registered! It really is a life saver!

Thank you! That is great that your grandfather runs a support group. I can say from first hand experience that those support groups are very helpful! People tend to forget that the physical part of the cancer treatment is really nothing compared to the mental part of it. I suffer from post traumatic stress disorder that I really didn't know anything about until after this experience.

Also support groups are great for the caretakers of the patients. They do go through a lot.