Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Will you marrow me?

So here's the thing. The idea of a bone marrow extraction freaks me out. Seriously freaks me out. When I was in my teens I saw a play called Marvin's Room. They even made a movie out of it with Meryl Streep and Leonardo DiCaprio. Actually, while I say I saw the play, I should mention I really only saw the first half. The second half I spent in the lobby of the theater sweating and trying not to throw up. The end of the first half ended with a fade to black and a whirring of some sort of bone marrow extractor - cue me trying not to pass out to the disgust of my father. But lately there have been a lot of bone marrow drives in my neighborhood, mainly due to a couple of children who have leukemia. And I thought of my baby girl, and what would I do if she were sick. So I "manned" up and went in to be typed. As it happens though, all that is required to be typed is a couple of cheek swabs. If you are matched the good news is that 80% of the procedures are non-invasive (well sort of - anything that requires shots and blood donation is by definition invasive in the "that needle is invading my skin") And the other 20% well... they require anesthesia and a big effing needle. However, if I could survive a c-section and back labor I can deal.

So I'm typed and they own my soul *cough* place on the registry until I'm 61. So go get typed my non-existent readers. As it turns out leukemia has affected many of my friends lives. So even if you don't save a loved one of your own you might save someone else's loved one. It's what my non-Jewish mother calls a mitzvah - a good deed.

Go to www.dkmsamericas.org to find out more.