Bone Marrow Donation

So the results are in... and we have TWO sibling matches - Rocky and Baby! So not only are we beyond thankful to have a perfect donor, we now also have a response the next time someone says to us; “FIVE children? Are you mad?!?” Can you imagine if we’d stopped after three?

Scooby is still not at the point where he’s ready for transplant, but they have moved him into the Bone Marrow unit already, to make sure he’s in the right place for when the time comes, and also because he needs the stricter infection-controlled environment to protect his fragile system.

We haven’t explained the situation to Rocky yet (the doctors’ choice of donor) because we have no idea about timing and to be told at four years old that you may or may not be having an operation to save your brother’s life is a pretty large piece of information to swallow!

Now that we know that part for us is secure and ready, I really want to ask if you were one of the people who were willing to come forward as a donor for Scooby, if you would think about signing yourself up on the register to donate to someone else. We are incredibly blessed to have so many family and friends willing to step forward for us, and there are many other people whose need is as great as Scooby’s, that don’t have matching siblings or as many generous friends and family.

For me, the biggest question is ‘What would I be signing up to do?’ so I found this video on the Anthony Nolon website about the process that a successful donor would go through:

I have to be honest, my first thought was ‘Hmm, not sure I’d want to be feeling a bit under the weather for a few days, that might not be convenient,’ before remembering that I’m expecting my four year old to do the same thing!! So although I know that right now I wouldn’t be available physically to go and donate, I have set a reminder in my phone for six months’ time, and to go off every month after that, until I’m in a situation where I know I could be spared from family commitments if I was needed as a donor, and then I will register. And anyone who knows me knows that I am the MOST squeamish person EVER when it comes to blood, veins and needles, so to decide to do this is no little thing at all. It’s only through watching Scooby have stuff taken from him and put into him on a daily basis without complaining that I could muster up the guts to do it.

So watch the video, go to the website www.anthonynolan.org and if you can’t register straightaway, set a reminder on your calendar and do it soon.

How great would it be if FORTY people who were willing to donate to Scooby signed up to help other people instead? In fact, if you do it, add a comment at the bottom here and then we can count up how many people have registered as a result of Scooby’s story (this is for my sake – it helps me to make sense of all this!).

Thankyou!