Will you be the match for someone like Jimmie?
Jimmie Thompson never expected that his retirement years would begin with a fight for his life. In late 2024, he wasn’t feeling quite himself, but he figured it was just part of being 75 years old and still working nearly every day. Though he had stepped back from heavy manual labor, Jimmie was still running estimates, going to appointments, and picking up supplies.
The holidays were busy, as they always are in a family with seven children and thirteen grandkids. January brought Jimmie and his wife their wedding anniversary and the excitement of preparing for a cruise with friends, a return to the same trip they had taken for their honeymoon.
Then everything changed.
Jimmie began experiencing severe pain in his neck and shoulder pain unlike anything he’d ever felt, even after two knee replacements and a shoulder replacement. After several visits to the ER, scans, and blood work, they were finally given an answer. On a Tuesday morning, a hospitalist reviewed his labs and delivered the diagnosis: Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).
By that afternoon, Jimmie was moved to the cancer floor. The next morning, he had a bone marrow biopsy. Within hours, a port was placed and chemotherapy began. In just three days, the course of his life, and his family’s, had shifted completely. For patients like Jimmie, chemotherapy is just the first step. The only potential cure is a bone marrow transplant.
This is where you come in.
Every year, thousands of patients like Jimmie are searching for a matching donor. The process to help is simple: request a cheek swab kit, spend just a few minutes swabbing, and send it back. That small act could give someone a second chance at life.
Will you take that step for someone like Jimmie?
Request your swab kit today. Join the registry. Lifesaving starts with you.