The Donor's Perspective Part 1

The Duke connected the brother and sister for the first transfusion.

Reflections from the donor, my sister Laurie.


Soundtrack
Great Organ Solo -Power in the Blood
This guy is great, changing presets on the fly, imaginative


    There was never a sense of hesitation when Chris broached the subject of my being a  possible donor. Prior to his diagnosis, I had  shared with my Massage class an oral report on stem cell transplants.. At this point, we did not know if Chris would qualify for an STC,  or if it would be a potential cure for his type of  MDS. I remember ending my report with the story of a young girl and her meeting with her Stem Cell donor after her transplant, and subsequent recovery from MDS.  The class was as tearful as I was. I told my brother that if the time came I would donate. Therefore, when Chris called to tell me I would be receiving a kit in the mail from Duke for am HLA and blood sample, the journey began.

    I called the local hospital in Waterville, Maine to set up an appointment, unsure of what the procedure would be, as I was without medical insurance. When I arrived, I was informed there would be no charge and they would have it picked up at the door and shipped Fed-X immediately, and they would make sure it did not freeze. I called Chris and told him the process was set in motion and it was a wait and see time for both of us. I will never forget when I received the news that I was a match. Actually, I was a perfect match! (First time I had been perfect at anything.)

    After a quick, “I told you I wasn’t adopted!” we made plans for my flight.  I went to all my college professors and told them I would keep up with my schoolwork and be back in 3 weeks. Finding a place to stay in Durham was an answer to prayer. Longtime friends welcomed me into their home for the week prior
to Annie and Chris’s arrival in  Durham. From the moment, I touched down on North Carolina sod I was treated to hospitality that was way more than pleasant.

   A chest x-ray, EKG and paperwork were all I needed to begin the donation process. For five days before Apheresis, I was given two Neupogen shots to stimulate my bone marrow to produce extra cells. Having been a blood donor, I found that the actual shots were virtually painless. But when the Neupogen started to work, it was like having a firecracker go off inside of you. Not that it hurt it just felt like you were being jolted. My  Anatomy and Physiology classes paid off  because I had a good picture of what was happening in my marrow. After the five days of Neupogen, I was ready for Apheresis.


Tomorrow, Aphresis explained