Friday, February 11, 2011

Be The Match

Did you know that minority groups have a much harder time acquiring organ and/or bone marrow donations? Usually (and thankfully not in the case with Rene and me), potential donors have a better chance of being a match with the intended recipient if the two are of the same ethnicity. Add that to the fact that, for instance, only 7% of the 9 million people registered to be donors on Be the Match are African American, being a part of a minority population can greatly lessen a person's chance for transplant.

Nordstrom is partnering with Be the Match throughout the month of February and covering the costs of joining the site--one that matches bone marrow donors and recipients.

Consider signing up here.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

NYTimes article

It's amazing how often I now notice stories about living donor transplants. Here's a particularly cool one from today's New York Times.

By the way, update from my doctor visit in December: I'm as healthy as can be. All my numbers looked great--including my creatinine, which came down from a 1.2 after surgery to a 1.0 (normal levels range from 0.5-1.2). Next checkup in June! Rene and I were actually able to together celebrate our health on Christmas Eve, as she and Nancy stopped in to my dad's house on their trip to visit family in North Carolina. I'll post pictures soon.

Hope the new year is treating everyone beautifully.