OT- Do something every Michigan Man would: become a registered bone marrow donor, potentially save a life
Never made an actual blog entry before, so please don't go too hard on me here and sorry if there's any messed up formatting.
First of all, I encourage everybody to read the article that crazy eyes MGoUser ಠ_ಠ referred to in his recent blog post about future Michigan softball player, Aidan Falk. It is a great story and even better testament to the high level of character possessed by athletes recruited to play at Michigan.
HOWEVA, what resonated the most with me while reading this article was when it mentioned finding compatible bone marrow donors for those in need can be a challenge. I mean, imagine if you had someone you love die despite their illness being completely curable. Personally, I'd probably be upset the rest of my life based on the assumption such a tragedy only occurred just because some person out there that would have been a proper match simply wasn't in the registry.
With that said, if anyone hasn't realized that with virtually no time or effort, they can enter themselves into the bone marrow donor registry, please do so.
This was actually mentioned on the board a couple years ago, but just go to the website www.dkmsamericas.org to do a good deed.
[MOD EDIT - last paragraph removed for the benefit of the OP....yeah, don't shoot a good deed in the foot, especially with machine gun. - LSA]
Again: www.dkmsamericas.org
I appreciate the spirit of the post, and agree with the encouragement to register.
and I just registered!
Not quite as good a feeling as Shipping My Pants...maybe that will change!
People should take the time to research, sign up and do it only because they want to.
Everything was good until you said I should "disassociate" myself with University of Michigan if I didn't want to put my name on the list. My first thought was "Who the F**k are you?" So yeah, take out that last paragraph.
I'm not sure if the last paragraph is meant to be snarky but there goes the feel-good moment of this topic.
If you've donated in the past, you do not need to donate again, just keep your contact info up-to-date. I first donated in 2003 and have updated my contact info 3-4 times since.
I too encourage people to register. I did so early last year when a friend's teenage daughter was diagnosed with a very aggressive leukemia. A selfless person became a match for her and she underwent a bone marrow transplant early last summer. At one point, she was hooked up to a device (ECMO) to keep her alive and given a less then 10% chance to survive. This past weekend, her family celebrated her high school graduation and she will on her way to college in the fall. Without the bone marrow transplant, it would have been a sadly different story.
Its very easy to do. Just a cheek swab and mail it back in. Another website is bethematch.org.
As a note to the OP, I did remove that last paragraph for you because trying to shame or guilt people into doing this is probably not the best motivational tool. It is a wonderful cause, and I actually am among the many that are registered, but in the end it is something people do because they wish to do it. Not sure if you meant it as a joke, but it didn't come across as one.
That being said, the more people that are in the registry, the better. I would recommend it definitely. I've watched two relatives pass from lukemia and if I can help prevent someone's loss through this, it is the least I can do for my fellow man, I believe.
I'll trade my bone marrow to anyone for a working Pancreas.
Please avoid transphobic language.
I'm on the list. My wife and I went through and got registered about a year ago and while the odds are long we'll ever get called I do have the information on my key chain and in my wallet should there ever be a match.
Hypothetical question for the board related to the topic. Should people who've elected NOT to donate organs be allowed to recieve a transplant if one is needed? It's always bothered me to some degree that some people make a conscience decision to NOT allow their organs to be harvested are allowed to recieve others. Seems to me that if you dont want to give then you dont get. Make that that change and I think you'd immediately see the active donor list skyrocket overnight.
The problem with this is how you know someone's intentions when they sign up:
Scenario A: Someone get diagnosed with a disease that may require bone marrow, signs up before needing a transplant, then says they are registered and deserves the transplant. This person only registered to get the service.
Scenario B: Someone signs up and coincidentally gets diagnosed with a disease shortly thereafter. They need a bone marrow transplant now too, and had good intentions, so making you be active on the list for donators for X amount of time before you are allowed to receive seems like it would screw these people.
Seems just about any law would allow people to circumvent the rules, and for something as serious are requiring bone marrow people will put a lot of time and effort into circumventing the rules.
I cannot be the only one who is upset they got here after the last parapraph was deleted.
I'd love a <Modification History> tab or something so we can go back and look at the "excellence" some people write!
I saw it. He basically closed his post by saying something to the effect of......and if you dont register you should disassociate yourself from the University of Michigan.
It was just a wee bit over the top.
I googled the link and clicked the 'cached' link on the tab to just find it.. I won't do the honors of sharing it though, mods removed it for a reason.
I was diagnosed with lymphoma in October and have been battling since. I went through chemo and 30 rounds of radiation trying to kill this tumor. I have a biopsy tomorrow to see if any cells are active. I said to my wife last night " I'm screwed if I have to undergo a bone marrow transplant as my next step." I was adopted as an infant. Please go get registered. As a side note: I have lurked on this blog for the past 9 months and I would like to thank you for providing some humor amid some pretty dark days.
good luck to you azul in NC!!
Good luck to you tomorrow! I've got Carcinoid cancer and know first-hand just how crappy the day before your test results can be. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I'm sorry you have to go through that.
Thanks for posting the link, OP. Here's hoping we save some lives.
Do you get compensated if you decide to donate?
Just went to the website and you have to be willing to donate to any patient in need. I would not be willing to donate to anyone. I would kind of like to know who it is. If it's a kid in elementary school then yeah, I'll do it for free. If it's a rich guy in his 50's I want some money. If it's a 45 year old dead beat dad whos family won't even see if they are a match because the guy is such a prick then no, I won't donate.
Honest post in this thread!
So basically you just want a chance to play God.
Do you think that if you could talk to the potential recipient and possibly work out a payment more or less people would die? Only 2% of people are on the list so I don't feel bad about not potentially donating my time and going through pain for some anonymous person who might be a dick with $10 million in the bank. Obviously the system is not working so I don't think it's a bad idea to explore these policies that are used in other countries.
Even a lower middle class person can get family and friends to donate money or take out a loan and come up with at least $20K. A lot more people would sign up if there was compensation.
I've been registered for awhile now, and I few years back said it looked like I had a match. They overnighted me a styrofoam cooler with empty vials and a huge dry ice pack, I got blood drawn at the hospital and sent it back. And then I got a message saying something about the donee wasn't ready or something like that. Can't explain how depressing that was, after being so stoked to donate and help someone. Obviously I hope that meant things were going well, but part of me still hopes that I'll be called upon (if not for that person, than someone else)...
Very important cause. My dad passed away of leukemia in 2011. He had a bone marrow transplant from a donor in Germany that they thought was successful at first but his cancer returned. I'll never forget the kindness of that stranger to give my dad a chance at life so it was an easy choice for me to join Be The Match. It's also a great thing to donate blood and platelets.
This Walmart Wolverine is to old. I went to the website and its ages 18 - 55 so I just missed.
Its up to you young guys!!!! Go Blue!!!!
Yeah, I'm not eligible either. I'm not quite 55 yet, but I have an autoimmune disease, so you young healthy people need to be the ones to volunteer.