Tania's Donor Story
Hi my name is Tania and I am a Bone Marrow Donor. I’m sharing this with you in hopes I motivate you to register to potentially save a life too. Many patients with blood cancer (like leukemia and lymphoma) and other blood diseases lose their battles because no matching donor is found. The odds of finding a matching donor for people of color are even lower because their ethnicity is underrepresented in the donor registry. We have the power to change that and all it takes is a simple cheek swab.
My brother and I both registered during our senior year in High School - 7 years apart. In 2020, my brother got a call that he was a match to a 39 year old man with Leukemia. After many tests to make sure he was indeed the right match he went through and donated stem cells. Almost two years later, I got a call telling me I was potentially a matching donor for a patient, a 1yr old boy, needing a bone marrow transplant.
The whole process was an overwhelming wave of emotions, thoughts, and feelings, to say the least. After months of labs and waiting and postponements and more labs, the day finally came and passed.
Grateful to life, God & the universe for the life changing opportunity. Please help me spread the word and reach my goal of adding new potential donors to the donor pool. You have the power to give someone else a second chance at life.