Debu_Update

A few weeks ago, I talked about Deb and the need for blood donors. Today is Deb’s New Birthday – the day of her bone marrow stem cell transplant. I snagged the update below from Manolo’s Shoe Blog – Sis #1 wrote it and sent it to Manolo, but I’m sure she wouldn’t mind me sharing it here.

Dear Manolo,

Just wanted to let you know an update on my sister at www.debutaunt.com . She is going to be getting her blood stem cell transplant on Monday. Right now, the Debu is already admitted to the hospital to get the preparatory treatment—radiation and chemo. The blood stem cell transplant is not an easy process to go through but it gives the best hope to thousands of people, including my sister.

Though going through a transplant is not terribly fun, we learned something that we didn’t know previously—that the donation process is pretty easy. People think of donating blood stem cells as being very painful, and the old way of doing it was certainly not comfortable. But the new technology does not involve an operation into the bone marrow, rather, they just take extra stem cells out of the donors’ blood—kind of like giving platelets.

My sister was fortunate that she had a match in my brother. But there are thousands of people who are not that lucky and rely on the National Marrow Donor Program to find a match. Here is information on how to join it: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/join_the_registry.html .

Anyhow, with the transplant, the Debu is going to be in the hospital for 20-40 more days and is already bored as heck. As her hospital fashion statement, she rejects hospital gowns as being too immodest and ugly, and favors Nick and Nora pajamas (Target now carries them—they are the most genius company). She has the internets in her hospital room, and it has been a lifesaver to be able to visit her internet friends. So if you would like to visit, I am sure she would adore it.

Buona giornata!
Steph

Go send the Debu some love and cheer her on in her fight. She is totally going to kick cancer’s ass.