Be The Match - I Hope I Am!

A couple months back I joined the National Marrow Donor Program Registry, now called the Be The Match Registry.  It is a registry of people willing to make a bone marrow transplant to patients with leukemia or other life-threatening diseases.  After undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation, a patient needs healthy blood-forming cells from a donor who is a close genetic match.  According to the website, seventy percent of patients needing a transplant do not have a donor in their family who is a close enough match.  This is where the Be The Match Registry steps in. 

Upon joining the registry online, you are sent a kit for collecting a swab of cheek cells.  You ship that back and your information is added to their database. Doctors query this database to try and find a match for a patient in need.  If you are identified as a potential match, you are called and asked to give a blood sample for more testing.  At this point, you are probably one of several people being tested to find the best possible match.  The chance of you being selected from here is 1 in 12.

If you do happen to be a close enough match to the patient, you are asked to attend an information session to make sure you are comfortable with the process.  A physical exam is also given to make sure you are healthy enough for a donation.  If all is well, you can donate through either a bone marrow donation, or a PBSC donation.  You can find out more about those here.  The patient's doctor chooses the method that is best for the patient.

When all is said and done, you will have participated in a life-saving transplant.  Think about that.  You saved a life.  Imagine if that person with leukemia were your parent, your sibling, or your child.  Imagine if no one in your family was able to donate, and the only option available for saving your family member was finding an unrelated donor.  Think of the impact it would make if YOU could be that person for another family.  That's what prompted me to join the registry.

As it turns out, I received a call last week that I was a potential match for a 10 year old with leukemia.  I went in to a bloodcare center and had blood withdrawn to be sent off for further testing.  Embarrassingly enough, I fainted halfway through the extraction process (I had 4 of 7 tubes filled), and couldn't complete the sample.  But that won't faze me!  I'm going back next week to finish the job and then it's a waiting game to find out if I'm a match.  It could take as little as a week or as long as 60 days to find out.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Yes, the process might be daunting and painful, but that pales in comparison to the reward.

Join the Registry and save a life.   

        

It's Race Time Again!

The Komen Dallas Race for the Cure is happening soon!   This year it is being held on Saturday, October 17th.  For more information, visit here.  The 5K begins at 8am at NorthPark Center, and there are always fun booths and activities to check out afterwards.  This year I've recruited my husband, Jeremiah, and our foreign exchange student, Kim, to join me.  We hope to see you out there.  Come be a part of something special!

    

Skate Party!

This past weekend we celebrated a friend's birthday with a fun outing at Red Bird Skateland. The rink was rented out for us for two hours. I can't remember the last time I roller skated, so I was pretty hesitant to get out there! A couple of us decided to make it even more festive by dressing up in tacky 80s outfits! We scoured Target for the cheesiest shirts we could find and the obligatory knee-high striped socks. Jer even got into the spirit by cutting off some old jeans to make them jorts. Yeah, he was a sight to see! It was a blast. Kudos to Shawn and Pappy for the great idea, and to Mike for the awesome photos. Enjoy....but don't laugh too hard!

Habitat for Humanity Volunteer Recap

This past weekend, I participated in a volunteer effort coordinated by Habitat for Humanity with my mother and my exchange student, Kim. We arrived at the location (near Hwy 175 & Rochester Park in South Dallas) at 8am. The assignment was to paint the exterior of a house from top to bottom. It wasn't a "Habitat" house, but instead was an existing house in the neighborhood where they were building multiple Habitat houses. Their idea to spruce up a neighboring house was to hopefully make it less obvious which houses were Habitat ones, so that the entire neighborhood started to improve. It was grueling work in the hot, hot sun. (I've got some sore muscles and a sunburn to prove it!) We worked until about 3:30pm, when the house was finally complete. We never got to meet the homeowner, but we did get compliments from neighbors telling us what a great job we had done.

It's funny how a fresh coat of paint can make such a difference. Using supplies provided by Habitat, 15 of us spent about 8 hours of our time and we completely rejuvenated a previously dilapidated-looking house. That's not too big of a burden on any one person. But, just imagine how impossible it would've been for the homeowner to attempt to pay for and coordinate getting new paint on his/her house. I'm sure it would've taken much longer and been very costly. It was cool to see what we were collectively able to do in a relatively short amount of time. I have no doubt the homeowner was pleased with our efforts. I'm glad Kim was able to be a part of such a wonderful experience!

Let's Learn Some German!

Kim brought a hilarious slang book with her from Germany, that helps you learn "hip" or "modern" phrases in other languages. It shows the translations in English (American & British), German, Spanish, French, and Italian. I don't think it's possible to peruse this book without laughing out loud. Some of the phrases it teaches you are just ridiculously funny. Here's a sample:

1) hella, mad "The movie was hella exciting."
German: abartig "Der Film war abartig spannend."

2) to take a deuce
German: abappeln

3) to chill, to hang, to chilax
German: abchillen

4) sweet, the shit
German: abgespaced

5) hairy pits
German: Achselkatze

6) Bummer! Crapola!
German: Alter Latz!

7) rad, sick, off the chain: "This song is really sick."
German: amok "Der Song ist echt amok!"

8) barking spiders
German: Analsturm

9) homie, dawg
German: Digga

10) hard core chillin' "My hobbies are soccer, hard core chillin' and listening to music."
German: Extreme Gammling "Meine Hobbys sind: Fussball, Extreme Gammling und Musik horen."

11) party for people over 30
German: Gammelfleischparty

12) male anorexic
German: Hunger-Harry

Birthday Celebrations

This past weekend we had a party at our house to celebrate Kim and David's birthdays. Hers was on 8/7 and his is 8/13. Even though Kim has only been in America for a couple days, she's already a part of our family and we definitely wanted to celebrate her special occasion! My nephew David lives in Austin, but he and his girlfriend Meredith were nice enough to drive up so we could celebrate his day as well (thanks guys!). Jer's mom was in town on business, so we were excited to have her over for the party too. The menu was delicious! We had brisket, ribs, cole slaw, potato salad, waffle fries, baked beans, Texas toast, pecan pie, and chocolate cake! And, what get-together with my family would be complete without 7-layer dip? We introduced Kim to it and she loved it!


My young nephews got to meet Kim for the first time, and I'm pretty sure they're smitten! All in all, it was a very fun day and I'm glad so many of our family members were able to share in it together. Enjoy the pics!

Kim has arrived!

Our German foreign exchange student, Kim, set foot in Texas last night for the first time! She was given a big Texas welcome from Jeremiah, my mom, my dad, my sister Jo, Jo's daughter Livy, and me. We held welcoming signs and gave her flowers. After picking up her bags, we headed over to Jo's house where she got to meet Jo's husband Trey and spend a few minutes with little Livy. She adores children, so I know we will have many visits to Jo's house in the future. After that, we headed to our house and showed her where she'll be living for the next 6 months! I had some fun American gear waiting for her on her bed. I got her a "Don't Mess With Texas" t-shirt, a Las Vegas t-shirt, a Texas Tech t-shirt, a Texas tote bag, a Texas flag keychain, a couple of American magazines, and some framed pictures of her family and friends. We were pleasantly surprised when Kim told us she had brought gifts for us as well. She gave Jeremiah some milk chocolate (his favorite!), gave me some perfume from Germany & a shirt from H&M, and gave us a German cookbook. She's such a sweet girl! We stayed up for a couple hours talking, and then decided we better get some rest before our big adventure begins! More to come...