Our good friend and fellow blogger CPR is down south getting ready to disgorge some bone marrow to help out someone in need. From the description of the procedure they’ve made huge strides in making bone marrow donation less like torture. Still he’s going through some stuff to make his body spit out the right cells. You’re a hero, mon!
Let’s all give our best thoughts to the Ranger!
I can’t even fathom that. WHat a gift to give.
I heard this is a painful process.
May all go well.
CPR seems particularly appropriate as a moniker for such a life giver.
By all accounts the procedure is rougher on the one donating stem cells than the one receiving them.
Bob, do you know if he’s donating stem cells or bone marrow? The terms are often used interchangeably, but the procedure for extraction would be different. I’m only familiar with the stem cell method and was under the assumption that actual bone marrow is rarely, if ever, used anymore for transplants.
Since that bone marrow transplant page you link to differentiates the two, I’m assuming actual bone marrow transplants are still done.
Disregard my last. Reading the bone- marrow transplant page, and taking a closer look at what you wrote, he’d doing the stem cell method.
Yes. That’s my understanding.
Long live the Ranger !!
Awesome, CPR, if it knocks you down, may you recover quickly, Be well.
Thanks for the kind thoughts. Everything went perfectly on our end, and we’re hoping that it benefits the recipient.
During the process, I had the good fortune to meet my wife’s friend Nyle Henderson, a local man who lost his son to Hodgkins disease back when the chances of finding a match were low. His ultimate response to the awful grief of losing a child was to get out in the community and sign volunteers up in the Marrow Donor Registry.
His perseverance gives hope to families who are faced with the painful trial that his family confronted.
If any of your readers are interested, Gift of Life might be a great marrow registry to get involved with. They’re working on using social media to get the word out — rather than a traditional marketing campaign targeting a few wealthy donors, they’d like to find a large number of people who can make a contribution instead.
Their website has a bit more information on this.