Reflections

It has now been a few days since I arrived home from Rhode Island and I have been working on settling back in to school, my job, and my personal responsibilities. Tuesday was a bit rough around the edges for me, I was very sad to be leaving and it showed. Even after I arrived back at my apartment I was blubbering a bit. Everything just seemed so overwhelming.

Now I am back into the grind of school Tuesdays and Thursdays, work almost every day, and everything else I have to do. The past few days have given me a lot of time to reflect on the experience I have been fortunate enough to have and I thought I should post some of those thoughts on here.

Doreen thanked me for "making them look good" at the Rhode Island Blood Center, but I can honestly say that the only thing I have done is raise awareness of how amazing the staff is there. They make themselves look good, and, if anyone is given the option of donating in Rhode Island, take it. You won't be disappointed. The people at the blood center weren't only the people handling my donation, but they became my friends as well. I can't thank them enough for looking after me and making sure that I had the most positive, uplifting experience possible. I also have to give them credit for introducing me to Nick, who helped make my days a little less lonely and my apheresis more awesome by bringing cheesecake. Even though he likes to root for the Yankees when they are playing the Red Sox so we can have friendly competitions about who is going to win, I count him among my friends.

As for the after thoughts about the donation itself I feel very fortunate to have been given the opportunity to give someone another chance at life. Although the donor center argued with me on the matter, to me this has never been about me. Like I explained to my Mom, who at the beginning wasn't sure of the process, I am not the type of person who could wake up every morning and live with myself had I said no. I couldn't live with myself knowing I had the chance to help someone and simply chose not to because it might disrupt a week of my time or make me uncomfortable. Yes, at times I was in pain due to the filgrastim, but I reminded myself of the person I was doing it for. If I was in pain, I couldn't imagine how much he must be going through in order to get ready for his transplant. Filgrastim is nothing in comparison to chemo and radiation. Hearing Doreen tell my Mom that he would more than likely receive the cells I donated in less than 24 hours made everything that much more real for me. I have been asked for an update, so in 30 days I will hear from Doreen about how he is doing. I am genuinely hoping for good news, but I hope that my recipient as well as the blood center knows that I am here and will gladly, if need be, donate again as many times as necessary.

One of the most emotional aspects of this has been the response I have gotten from my family and friends. One woman from my home town posted on my wall this week that she had just mailed her swabs back to the registry, all because she heard what I was doing. Granted, it may only be one person, but that is one more person than before that is willing to help if they are called upon. To know that my experience has helped at least raise awareness for the Be the Match program is beyond words. I hope that others will take the time to register too, thinking about it now I would much rather have people thanking me by registering with the Be the Match donor program...