This Holiday Season, Give the Gift of Hope…and Blood
Friends, family, extended friends and family,
Most of us have a bit of your own renewable resource to give this holiday season — blood. A little prick and a few minutes of your time may save a life, or help lives like mine.
Several news sources have highlighted the depleted blood supply (especially rare blood types) from November through January, since there are fewer or no blood drives going on. [Source: Chicago Tribune and the Sacramento Bee]
So if you’ve got the time or inclination, your blood donations could save lives!
Also, if you’re interested, you can donate to BloodSource under my name, which is where I get blood units from if/when I need transfusions. It’d be a nice gesture for BloodSource to know people support them in appreciation for them supporting me. And it doesn’t matter what kind of blood type you’ve got! Anything is appreciated.
Though I fortunately haven’t needed any transfusions since April (my vampire days are over, for now), but I may need them soon in the coming months to combat the side effects of radiation–my red blood cells and platelets might drop below what’s normal and safe.
Also, registering for the National Marrow Donor Program can dramatically change and tangibly save someone’s life. Leukemia, more so than even my own condition, has a good chance of going into remission from a bone marrow transplant.
Right before my last treatment, I had the awesome opportunity to meet Janet Liang, a fellow Bruin in a similar predicament as myself — at 22 she was diagnosed with leukemia, just this past August. Here’s her site: HelpingJanet.com
People of Asian and mixed descent have an especially difficult time finding people who are a bone marrow match. From what I understand, this statistic is largely due to the fact that marrow matches tend to be in the same ethnicity, and there just aren’t that many Asian or Asian American donors. Here’s the Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches site.
Finding a match for Janet, or any patient with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and marrow-related diseases, will give them an even greater fighting chance — and a hero to thank!
So please, PLEASE, consider helping out! You could be helping us all kick cancer in the butt.
Sincerely, and with tons of love,
Jessica
