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Every Monday Matters: Donate blood and bone marrow By Matthew Emerzian and Kelly Bozza
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT)
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Every 2 seconds someone needs blood.
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38,000 pints of blood are used each day in the U.S.
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Nearly 500 hospitals cancelled elective surgery due to blood inventory shortages.
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Demand for blood is rising much faster than donations. In fact, donations are declining.
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1 pint of blood can save up to 3 lives - maybe even the life of someone you know.
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60 percent of the population is eligible to donate, but only 3.2 percent do on a yearly basis.
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The No. 1 reason donors say they give is because they "want to help others."
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Anyone who is in good health, is at least 17 years old, and weighs at least 110 pounds may donate blood every 56 days.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
1. Find a blood donor location near you and schedule an appointment today. 2. Donate blood. The blood donation process takes approximately 30 minutes. 3. When you donate, you'll receive a donor card stating your blood type. Keep the card in your wallet. 4. Put yourself on a regular donating schedule of once every 56 days. 5. If you have type O-negative blood, the universal donor type, your blood is especially needed because it can be used in emergencies. There is no substitute for human blood. Human blood is precious and can't be manufactured outside of the body. If you gave blood 4 times a year for the next 10 years, you would save 120 lives. Think of how many lives you could save if you gave blood for the rest of your life! Saving just one life should be convincing enough. YOU MATTER
On a recent Tuesday, I received two messages … two very profound messages that I felt the need to share. I think you will understand why. People need your help. The first message was from a family whose son was born with leukemia. His name is Hunter, and he has stolen our heart. Hunter is now 4 years old and still in the fight of his life. The message I received was a text from his mother. It read: "Thank God, we just found out that Hunter has zero leukemic cells in his bone marrow. It's a miracle." There were a few other celebratory expletives in there as well, but I took the liberty of removing them for this column. (Although, I must admit that I can't blame her…sometimes they add an extra punch and they have been through a lot.) I immediately called her to share in the excitement and to congratulate the family. It was an emotional conversation, but it doesn't end there…not even close. Hunter's body cannot handle one more chemotherapy treatment. This was the final one. If it didn't work, "there was nothing more the doctors could do." Fortunately, it worked…that's the good news. The tougher news is that Hunter needs a bone marrow transplant. This last round of chemotherapy was just to prepare him for the transplant. If his results did not come back as zero leukemic cells, Hunter could not have gone forward with the transplant, which means he would not last through the end of the year. For months the family has tried to find a donor, but Hunter is part Cherokee Indian, Asian-American, and African-American. Not a common mix, therefore not a lot of good matches. In fact, after going through the 6 million names on the bone marrow donor list, they determined that there was not a good enough match. Not one. So they are now going to use cord blood and hope that Hunter's body will adjust to it and manufacturer the missing pieces to produce healthy bone marrow. So, it was a big day for Hunter and his family, because now at least he has a chance … and that is something to celebrate. The second message I received was an email from a woman whose best friend was just diagnosed with leukemia. Her email reads: "My friend Two messages in one day. Two people/families reaching out to us … the world … for our help. Just so they can have a chance. They just want one swing of the bat, one shot at the lottery, lightning in a bottle. And we hold the answer for them … right in our bones. Our country's bone marrow supply does not represent the ethnic mix of our culture. America is known and celebrated for its racial diversity, but with this diversity comes a responsibility to honor and respect it. That means helping one another in any way we can. You matter. People matter. Your bone marrow matters. These are just two of many stories. Register today. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
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© 2009, The Modesto Bee Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
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Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
