The Gift of Saving A Life - My Experience Donating My Bone Marrow!

Hey Steemit family!

As my close friends and family know, a few weeks ago I had the incredible opportunity to donate my bone marrow to a young patient in need. It was a privilege to be a part of the process, and while it wasn't painless, it was a 'small' price to pay for saving a life.

Each year hundreds of patients turn to bone marrow donations to combat life threatening conditions such as Leukemia and for those in need, it can quite often be a literal case of life or death.

I wanted to share my experience and process in hopes of encouraging the Steemit community to look into becoming a bone marrow donor as there is often a shortage of bone marrow donations in many communities around the world.

I originally signed up to be a bone marrow donor after donating blood at my university in the United States about seven years ago. During a routine blood drive, the Be The Match organization set up a booth explaining the process and why it's so important.

Becoming a bone marrow donor is incredibly easy, and requires a simple and painless cheek swab, after which you are then entered into the registry.

Although most people in the registry will never be matched, those that match can play a life changing role in the life of the patient in need.

It took over seven years for me to match with the patient, and I was fortunate to be able to donate my bone marrow while living in Chile.

I wasn't exactly sure what to expect throughout the process but I can honestly say every step of the way was professional and MUCH less painful than I had thought.

They are ALWAYS looking for more donors, especially if you're a person of color as they are typically short on those types of donations.

Registering is SUPER easy, you simply get a FREE swab kit and swab your cheek. Matching is quite rare as I mentioned, but like me, you never know when you might be a match for what is often a last resort for the patient.

It would mean the world to me if you took a moment to learn more about the process:

https://bethematch.org/…/donate-b…/join-the-marrow-registry/

https://www.dkms.org/en!

I would be happy to answer any questions about my specific experience! Thanks so much!