What Does It Mean to Live?

Phyllis and I met 2 years ago this month! Can you believe it?! She is doing well and she just got back from a trip to Hawaii with her family. Traveling and spending time with the ones you care about most are what I envisioned for her back before I knew her. When I first learned I was going to donate, my hope was that by me donating, someone would have a second chance at life. And when I think about life and living, that's what I dream about... traveling, exploring the world while being with the ones I hold nearest and dearest to me. Everyone has different ideas of living, but when it comes down to it, we are all human and we all want the same thing - love.

You often hear people ask, if you found out you only had X number of days to live, what would you do? So what would you do? Make the most of today and of every day. Put down your phones and live in the moment. Be present. You'll never remember the best day of technology you ever had but you'll make memories that will last a lifetime and when you're taking your last breath, you'll know that you truly lived.

Happy Friday!

Phyllis

Well, the one year mark from the donation came and went. I sent Lee my info out right away but considering the lag between NMDP and such, I assumed I wouldn't hear much for a while. To my surprise, within a couple days I received an email directly from my recipient! Her name is Phyllis and she lives almost completely on the other side of the country. We have been emailing back and forth since then and it has been such an awesome experience. I look forward to hearing from her and always smile when I see an email from her pop up in my inbox.

She's doing well and I've even gotten to speak with some of her family members too. She's an amazing woman and I so look forward to getting to meet her and her family and finally give her the hug I've been holding onto for her for over a year now. 

I cannot believe how much things have changed in over a year. I looked back at some of my older posts and was reminded to keep counting my blessings. 

Almost there!

Hello all,

No news lately but I'd assume that all is going well. I realized yesterday that we are midway through July which means we're 8 months in and only 4 more until the 1 year mark!

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and getting some time to relax!

Engrafted Stem Cells!

I received a phone call on Friday with some news about my recipient. The stem cells have engrafted so she's making my blood cells now! She is doing well and was discharged from the hospital which is great news!

Merry Christmas!

Letters and Thankfulness

I'm currently on the west coast for some pharmacy conferences so I've been kind of out of reality for a few days and was surprised to see I had received a phone call from Lee. I listened to the voicemail and he had just wanted to check in because it has been about 30 days. He said he didn't have an update for me so my heart sank a little with disappointment but then he said he had a letter for me from my recipient! Obviously I called him back immediately and we chatted for a few minutes and he offered to email me a scanned copy of the letters (her husband wrote me one too!) and he's mailing the originals home so I can have them.

My recipient hand wrote me a letter and told me she had just gotten remarried and 24 days after she got married she was diagnosed with AML, which certainly changed their plans. Between the two of them they have 8 kids and 3 still live at home. She thanked me up and down and said that hopefully I'd meet them someday which absolutely thrilled me because I'd love nothing more but to be able to meet her and her family!

Then I read her husbands letter to me and I think I cried more through his letter because he told me what he had to watch his wife go through and that they couldn't find a donor. He said I was the only match in all of the US and Canada and if they couldn't find a match they were only going to do one more round of chemo and try some experimental medications. He told me that I saved his wife's life and I was their hero. This of course turned on the waterworks even more. I don't really feel like a hero, I really just feel honored to have been able to take part in this, but him telling me that means the world to me.

I've been really stressed out with trying to find a job after graduation and trying to figure out what I'm going to do and where I'll be within the next year and this just makes me realize how much more there is to life and what is truly important. I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my loved ones and will do the same in a few short weeks for Christmas and I couldn't be more thankful to be surrounded by people I love and by people that love me.