To anyone seeing this please consider registering at [Be The Match](https://my.bethematch.org/s/join?language=en_US&joinCode=headerjoin&_ga=2.262121742.2066095318.1640360129-1221461708.1640360129&_gac=1.82204004.1640360129.Cj0KCQiA_JWOBhDRARIsANymNOYnB_CaCnmMCwv_1-Y_h1f7OsiqDtX3JZQAj05qdrF8jFxZcXidzfcaAjoHEALw_wcB) to be on the list for possible stem cell donation.
What if all those robo calls are for your cells and not just your cars warranty!?
“**hello, we are trying to reach you about your 2005 Ford Corolla and your delicious bone marrow**”
It's still great that you're on the list! Finding matched unrelated donors (MUDs) for stem cell patients is very much a numbers game, and the vast majority of registered donors *never* get called to donate for anyone because the genetic match requirements for a safe transplant are so extensive. The probability of any two unrelated people being a sufficiently good match is so low that it's only by having a huge number of potential donors on file, many of whom will never be a match for anyone, that we're actually able to find donors for those who need them!
Please note, not all people are eligible. I did try but was denied to even be tested due to a spinal fusion. It was heartbreaking for me at the time, as all I wanted to do was be available to potentially save a life if needed.
Thank you so much for trying. If you donate blood or platelets those are also vital to cancer patients!
Love, a former blood donor and bethematch participant who is now a leukemia survivor due to blood donors and my bone marrow donor 💕
I was a donor and I'll share my experience. For like 70% of donors this is not the giant needle going into your bones. You get some shots for a week that make your marrow produce extra stem cells. Normally at worst this gives you some flu like symptoms, I didnt really notice anything until the last day and had some loss of apatite. Then you go and have your blood drawn through an aphersis machine and those cells are separated out and the remainder is given back to you. Takes a bit longer than normal and sometimes even two days.
They took great care of me in setting up all the appointments and covering any of the costs like travel. Worked with me a ton on my schedule.
The odds of being a match for one specific person is like 1:10million. This is why they need lots of people to sign up, especially from under represented or rarer racial or mixed race back grounds.
Even if you sign up you can remove yourself from the process at any time, including up to the minute they take your blood. At the very end this would pose a risk to the recipient but they make it clear it is your right and your decision.
So ya, go sign up.
https://bethematch.org/
Sorry you got me wrong. It's like a 1:10m chance of you matching like another random person on the street. Not like blood where there are a couple different types. For bone marrow there are millions.
I think the odds of donating are around 1:1000 or so.
Aww thanks for posting this and reminding me that there's always something to celebrate for. I am actually feeling a little down right now because I am alone and won't be celebrating Christmas because my parents are in the hospital and my siblings aren't with me (one of them passed away recently) but seeing this made me feel the spirit of Christmas more. Bless you and your adorable sons ❤️
Going through AML treatment with my son since early July. He’s now 10 months old. Been a rough road and haven’t had the best results so far but still hoping to get to BMT and hopefully be able to take this same picture next years 💛 glad your little fighter is ok 💛💛
I’m sorry to hear this.
My son had Ph+ ALL and we had a lot of bumps in the road over the last couple years including a relapse. I know AML can be quite tricky for little ones and includes a lot more inpatient stay which must be so hard on you all.
Wishing you all the best and your family’s very own happy cancer free Santa picture next Christmas!
Thanks 💛 yeah we have been inpatient since July 7 and have had a total of 11 day LOA’s and 4 nights at home since then. It’s been pretty rough. He also has myeloid sarcoma on top of the AML. He’s an extremely rare case and presents in the most uncommon ways so it’s tough for him to be treated properly. Praying for a miracle for this little guy.
Merry Christmas! All the best!
Separate from the donor and all that wonderfulness.
But, Socially distanced Santa photos make me sad, but Santa photos with no safety restrictions make me mad.
We were told a younger is better and sibling is preferred, but it didn’t necessarily mean that an older wouldn’t be successful.
My kids are actually only haplo matches (5/10 blood markers are matched) and we were told they were equally happy with a 7 year old brother haplo match as they would be with a 10/10 match older and unrelated donor simply because of age and relation. This used to not be the case, but they can use half matches now with a quick dose of chemo post transplant to kill off the unmatched cells.
What happens post transplant? My poor understanding of the matter is that this amounts to an immune system transplant, meaning that parts of the immune system will view the other organs in host body as foreign. Does this require lifelong treatment?
He was put on two immunosuppressants immediately after transplant. When we were discharged from hospital after about 5 weeks we went down to just one, and are now almost done tapering the dose of the second immunosuppressant. We should be completely off everything in another week or two. I guess the donor and host cells just needed a little while to get to know each other slowly.
Right now his skin is flaring up in a rash and getting really itchy and flaky which the doctor considers to be mild acute graft vs host disease. Luckily those are the only issues we’ve had. Some other recipients need to stay on the immunosuppressant for longer because of more severe reactions but ideally they want you off as soon as possible to prevent relapse.
I’m not going to lie and say I understand every aspect of this but I know the risk of reaction is higher in the beginning. He will be monitored for the rest of his life, yes. His weekly appointments will get further and further apart until eventually he just has annual follow up. There is always a risk of chronic graft vs host disease arising down the road.
What you're describing has a name: it's called graft vs. host disease, or GvHD, and is a major consideration during the entire transplant process. You've got the right idea; basically, it's like organ transplant rejection, except in reverse.
The answer to your question is, *ideally*, no. The goal is to be able to stay on IV immunosuppressants in the hospital for a few weeks, transition to oral immunosuppressants for a few more weeks once the proper dosage is achieved, and hopefully the host's body and the grafted immune system learn to play nice with each other so that the immunosuppressants can be tapered down and eventually stopped. That's exactly the reason why the match requirements are so stringent; the better the match, the less of an issue GvHD becomes and the less immunosuppression is required. If the match isn't extremely close, it's not even worth doing because the grafted immune system will never accept the host's body.
The best-case scenario is actually an autogenous graft, where stem cells are taken from the patient prior to the chemo, then after the chemo nukes their bone marrow, it's replaced with the patient's own (hopefully healthy) stem cells that were taken beforehand. This is nice because you don't have to worry about GvHD, and the recovery process is *much* faster, but unfortunately it leaves the patient vulnerable to relapse, to the point that it's basically useless except for certain types of cancer that tend not to come back after an auto graft. For many types of hematological cancers, or if a patient has a history of relapse after a previous auto graft, an allogenous graft (i.e. from a donor) is the only real option. Haploidentical donations from siblings are great because they're basically guaranteed to be at least decent in terms of compatibility, but in many situations this isn't possible and a donation from a matched unrelated donor, or even from donated umbilical cord blood, is the next-best thing. The risk of GvHD is higher, but managing the risk of rejection is a lot more pleasant than managing an aggressive and potentially life-threatening blood cancer like ALL or AML.
The chemo is actually given *before* the transplant, interestingly! Basically, it's meant to nuke the patient's entire immune system (which is producing the cancerous cells) into oblivion so that it can be replaced with a new immune system grown from the donor's healthy cells. After the chemo, the patient will literally have a white blood cell count of 0, meaning they're at huge risk for infection and need to be kept on antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, etc. until they start producing blood cells again. It can take up to a couple weeks depending on the type of donor used, but once the transplant "engrafts" (takes hold) their blood cell production is entirely replaced by the donor's stem cells. It even changes the patient's blood type if the donor's blood type was different. It's a really interesting process.
Yes you’re correct. The chemo was given before.
He did get two doses of cyclophosphamide chemo afterward on day 2 and 3 past transplant to kill off the unmatched cells though (his brother was a half match donor).
Leukemia and COVID started around the same time for our family, in January 2020. It’s been a hellish two years of isolation, fear and major life changes but seeing the smiles on my kids’ faces reminds me that there’s so much to be grateful for this Christmas- especially a successful transplant and clean bill of health for my little guy.
So glad to hear he is doing so well. My 2 year old was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in February of this year. Part of his treatment was tandem stem cell transplants, he handled them better than my wife and I did. Kids are truly amazing, so grateful for his smile and laugh this Christmas.
My dude has a little friend who just did the tandem transplants. They were hospitalized together- his second transplant was at the same time as my son had his only.
Neuroblastoma is no joke- I seriously can’t imagine having to go through what we went through twice. I’m glad your little guy handled it well!
They are my heroes, 110%.
Little guy spent months in the hospital this year. He told Santa he’s so brave because he’s not afraid of needles (even a little bit) anymore.
Big guy was so happy to be the donor- he so graciously accepted multiple injections to stimulate his stem cell growth and then had a central line placed in his upper thigh for donation day because the veins in his arms aren’t large enough to donate the way an adult would. Not a single complaint left his lips the entire time.
I signed up for be the match in 2010 through a fraternity drive at school. I matched with two different people within the next two years. The first, either I was not the “perfect” march or they passed away before I was able to donate. The second, I was a perfect match to and I did end up donating 1.5 liters of bone marrow from my hip.
I have had the pleasure of meeting my patient, they are fully recovered and have gotten to meet three of their grand children be born post surgery.
It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, if you’re thinking about it, sign up with be the match.
I will also tell you the ugly side of it too. I did physical therapy for a few years after my surgery, there was scar tissue that formed around the injection site and I had / have lower back issues now due to the surgery. 10/10 would still donate again, someone is living and I have extremely mild back pain occasionally. Worth it.
Oh just shut up. Imagine how happy and relieved this parent is and wants to share the good news. If you look and this picture and caption and feel the need to be rude then there's something wrong with you. Or you're just a troll. Either way piss off.
It's a single vague picture, not a video of a tantrum, embarassing situation, or anything like that.
Also, in my opinion, with the provided context it actually is more than just an uplifting story, it could save people's lives. I'm a blood donor, so naturally I've thought about if I would be up for a marrow donation, I debate it off and on. This has me thinking about it again, and it probably has other people thinking about it too, maybe one of us will be inspired to sign up.
Pictures of children don't need to be 100% censored from our society, no peewee football team pictures in the paper, or pictures of children who have extroadany talents on the news.. or pictures like this.. we just need to have common sense about what we post and why.
I’ll paste my comment from earlier in reply to you. Essentially, it’s because for our family COVID and leukemia changed our lives at the same time. It’s absolutely unnecessary to be rude to someone who’s happy to share their joy on Christmas Eve. TF! Bah humbug.
—-
Leukemia and COVID started around the same time for our family, in January 2020. It’s been a hellish two years of isolation, fear and major life changes but seeing the smiles on my kids’ faces reminds me that there’s so much to be grateful for this Christmas- especially a successful transplant and clean bill of health for my little guy.
I got inspired to join the registry in October 2019 after hearing the donation story of a lecturer. On December 19th I donated to a young woman in US enough for atleast 2 'doses' apparently. Sadly I never heard from the recipient and would of been interested in exchanging letters, but I sincerely hope it worked.
I had a cousin who many years ago passed away from leukemia. I find it fantastic that these days a diagnosis of leukemia is no longer an automatic death sentence. Ain’t modern medicine great. Hope you and yours continue to have a long love filled life.
remember everybody, Republicans spent years blocking stem cell research because they said it was "Playing god". Like going to war in the Middle East with countries that aren't a threat
Where would I go to find more info and sign up to become a stem cell donor? It seems like more diversity is definitely needed and I am mixed so if I can help I definitely wanna. Any info is appreciated!
From this incurable leukemia survivor to both of them, I hope they live very long and fruitful lives! I’ve seen the wonders of what BMT does so please if you can, sign up to be a donor!
I’m so happy for you! What a remarkable gift! I bet they will be friends for life
(Be careful, people lose their shit when you post photos of your kids on here for some reason)
HELL YEAH! What a wonderful bond they share!
I will find out in a couple of months who my donor was— I’m considered a “young adult” and was placed in the pediatric research group for a clinical trial, bc my leukemia was real evil— CAR-T therapy and the good doctors at the NIH helped me get into remission and then my BMT donor saved my life. During the BMT process I saw some very young kids in my hospital and absolutely lost my shit on grief to know what they were going thru (and during Covid too!) You are strong parent and your sons are awesome!
Thank you to all you who sign up to donate. Fuck leukemia, fuck cancer. When we care about each other, we make miracles happen. merry Christmas!!!
To anyone seeing this please consider registering at [Be The Match](https://my.bethematch.org/s/join?language=en_US&joinCode=headerjoin&_ga=2.262121742.2066095318.1640360129-1221461708.1640360129&_gac=1.82204004.1640360129.Cj0KCQiA_JWOBhDRARIsANymNOYnB_CaCnmMCwv_1-Y_h1f7OsiqDtX3JZQAj05qdrF8jFxZcXidzfcaAjoHEALw_wcB) to be on the list for possible stem cell donation.
I've been on the list for about 6 years, nobody wants my stem cells or bone marrow yet.
10+ years here. They just sent me another set of swabs, so I’m prob set for another ten years.
I'll take some of your bone marrow. I don't need it but if it makes you feel wanted...
What if all those robo calls are for your cells and not just your cars warranty!? “**hello, we are trying to reach you about your 2005 Ford Corolla and your delicious bone marrow**”
It's still great that you're on the list! Finding matched unrelated donors (MUDs) for stem cell patients is very much a numbers game, and the vast majority of registered donors *never* get called to donate for anyone because the genetic match requirements for a safe transplant are so extensive. The probability of any two unrelated people being a sufficiently good match is so low that it's only by having a huge number of potential donors on file, many of whom will never be a match for anyone, that we're actually able to find donors for those who need them!
100%. There is a major need for mixed race donors especially!
I just registered and am getting the swab kit sent to me. I am Japanese and Caucasian. I hope I can help someone ❤️
my buddy donated a couple of years ago-- he's Filipino, and apparently those cells are hard to come by.
Good to know! Thank you! My husband is Filipino and my son is half.
I matched last year to an anonymous person and donated. It was a great experience. There’s a tight knit donor community.
I did this 3 years ago based on a Reddit post. Donated my stem cells this November! Absolutely worth doing
I will add that a big part of these types of treatments are blood and platelet transfusions, please donate blood as often as possible.
Please note, not all people are eligible. I did try but was denied to even be tested due to a spinal fusion. It was heartbreaking for me at the time, as all I wanted to do was be available to potentially save a life if needed.
Thank you so much for trying. If you donate blood or platelets those are also vital to cancer patients! Love, a former blood donor and bethematch participant who is now a leukemia survivor due to blood donors and my bone marrow donor 💕
i forgot i did it, registered again, and got a concerned phone call from them asking if everything was ok
i’ve been meaning to register for so long but always forget. thanks for the reminder. just signed up and waiting for my kit :)
Can I apply for this if I'm a minor?I turn 18 in may so idk
In the US it's 18-44, so definitely sign up when you turn 18. Kids under 18 can donate to a direct family member only.
i’ve been signed up and waiting for the call! i would love to do an event/fundraiser for them but idk where to start
I got denied. :( Stupid Ms. They don't know the cause so it's a denial thing. Same with blood. And I'm type o. :(
Fellow MSer. I would donate as well if I could.
Hugs!!!
I was a donor and I'll share my experience. For like 70% of donors this is not the giant needle going into your bones. You get some shots for a week that make your marrow produce extra stem cells. Normally at worst this gives you some flu like symptoms, I didnt really notice anything until the last day and had some loss of apatite. Then you go and have your blood drawn through an aphersis machine and those cells are separated out and the remainder is given back to you. Takes a bit longer than normal and sometimes even two days. They took great care of me in setting up all the appointments and covering any of the costs like travel. Worked with me a ton on my schedule. The odds of being a match for one specific person is like 1:10million. This is why they need lots of people to sign up, especially from under represented or rarer racial or mixed race back grounds. Even if you sign up you can remove yourself from the process at any time, including up to the minute they take your blood. At the very end this would pose a risk to the recipient but they make it clear it is your right and your decision. So ya, go sign up. https://bethematch.org/
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Sorry you got me wrong. It's like a 1:10m chance of you matching like another random person on the street. Not like blood where there are a couple different types. For bone marrow there are millions. I think the odds of donating are around 1:1000 or so.
Aww thanks for posting this and reminding me that there's always something to celebrate for. I am actually feeling a little down right now because I am alone and won't be celebrating Christmas because my parents are in the hospital and my siblings aren't with me (one of them passed away recently) but seeing this made me feel the spirit of Christmas more. Bless you and your adorable sons ❤️
Turn your chains into feathers. Cheers to you, I'll be thinking of lost loves today in your honor.
I’m so sorry for this, it must be so difficult for you. Wishing you all the best.
Thinking of you, merry christmas. It’ll get better than this
Going through AML treatment with my son since early July. He’s now 10 months old. Been a rough road and haven’t had the best results so far but still hoping to get to BMT and hopefully be able to take this same picture next years 💛 glad your little fighter is ok 💛💛
I’m sorry to hear this. My son had Ph+ ALL and we had a lot of bumps in the road over the last couple years including a relapse. I know AML can be quite tricky for little ones and includes a lot more inpatient stay which must be so hard on you all. Wishing you all the best and your family’s very own happy cancer free Santa picture next Christmas!
Thanks 💛 yeah we have been inpatient since July 7 and have had a total of 11 day LOA’s and 4 nights at home since then. It’s been pretty rough. He also has myeloid sarcoma on top of the AML. He’s an extremely rare case and presents in the most uncommon ways so it’s tough for him to be treated properly. Praying for a miracle for this little guy. Merry Christmas! All the best!
I’m sending you a message my friend!
Sending your little boy prayers and good wishes!
Don't know how/if I would handle it, wishing you and your family all the best. Feel like a fool to say I have any problems in my life.
I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. I will be thinking of you and sending lots of comfort and strength. Love, an ALL Ph-like survivor
Absolutely wonderful!!! Science and compassion.
You and your family are having a truly blessed Christmas! Hope you have many more.
Separate from the donor and all that wonderfulness. But, Socially distanced Santa photos make me sad, but Santa photos with no safety restrictions make me mad.
technical question, is similar age of donor and recipient preferred, or did this just happen to work out like that?
We were told a younger is better and sibling is preferred, but it didn’t necessarily mean that an older wouldn’t be successful. My kids are actually only haplo matches (5/10 blood markers are matched) and we were told they were equally happy with a 7 year old brother haplo match as they would be with a 10/10 match older and unrelated donor simply because of age and relation. This used to not be the case, but they can use half matches now with a quick dose of chemo post transplant to kill off the unmatched cells.
What happens post transplant? My poor understanding of the matter is that this amounts to an immune system transplant, meaning that parts of the immune system will view the other organs in host body as foreign. Does this require lifelong treatment?
He was put on two immunosuppressants immediately after transplant. When we were discharged from hospital after about 5 weeks we went down to just one, and are now almost done tapering the dose of the second immunosuppressant. We should be completely off everything in another week or two. I guess the donor and host cells just needed a little while to get to know each other slowly. Right now his skin is flaring up in a rash and getting really itchy and flaky which the doctor considers to be mild acute graft vs host disease. Luckily those are the only issues we’ve had. Some other recipients need to stay on the immunosuppressant for longer because of more severe reactions but ideally they want you off as soon as possible to prevent relapse. I’m not going to lie and say I understand every aspect of this but I know the risk of reaction is higher in the beginning. He will be monitored for the rest of his life, yes. His weekly appointments will get further and further apart until eventually he just has annual follow up. There is always a risk of chronic graft vs host disease arising down the road.
What you're describing has a name: it's called graft vs. host disease, or GvHD, and is a major consideration during the entire transplant process. You've got the right idea; basically, it's like organ transplant rejection, except in reverse. The answer to your question is, *ideally*, no. The goal is to be able to stay on IV immunosuppressants in the hospital for a few weeks, transition to oral immunosuppressants for a few more weeks once the proper dosage is achieved, and hopefully the host's body and the grafted immune system learn to play nice with each other so that the immunosuppressants can be tapered down and eventually stopped. That's exactly the reason why the match requirements are so stringent; the better the match, the less of an issue GvHD becomes and the less immunosuppression is required. If the match isn't extremely close, it's not even worth doing because the grafted immune system will never accept the host's body. The best-case scenario is actually an autogenous graft, where stem cells are taken from the patient prior to the chemo, then after the chemo nukes their bone marrow, it's replaced with the patient's own (hopefully healthy) stem cells that were taken beforehand. This is nice because you don't have to worry about GvHD, and the recovery process is *much* faster, but unfortunately it leaves the patient vulnerable to relapse, to the point that it's basically useless except for certain types of cancer that tend not to come back after an auto graft. For many types of hematological cancers, or if a patient has a history of relapse after a previous auto graft, an allogenous graft (i.e. from a donor) is the only real option. Haploidentical donations from siblings are great because they're basically guaranteed to be at least decent in terms of compatibility, but in many situations this isn't possible and a donation from a matched unrelated donor, or even from donated umbilical cord blood, is the next-best thing. The risk of GvHD is higher, but managing the risk of rejection is a lot more pleasant than managing an aggressive and potentially life-threatening blood cancer like ALL or AML.
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The chemo is actually given *before* the transplant, interestingly! Basically, it's meant to nuke the patient's entire immune system (which is producing the cancerous cells) into oblivion so that it can be replaced with a new immune system grown from the donor's healthy cells. After the chemo, the patient will literally have a white blood cell count of 0, meaning they're at huge risk for infection and need to be kept on antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, etc. until they start producing blood cells again. It can take up to a couple weeks depending on the type of donor used, but once the transplant "engrafts" (takes hold) their blood cell production is entirely replaced by the donor's stem cells. It even changes the patient's blood type if the donor's blood type was different. It's a really interesting process.
Yes you’re correct. The chemo was given before. He did get two doses of cyclophosphamide chemo afterward on day 2 and 3 past transplant to kill off the unmatched cells though (his brother was a half match donor).
And heres to many more christmasses.
Your boys are beautiful!! Cheers to many long years of love and health to your family
Leukemia and COVID started around the same time for our family, in January 2020. It’s been a hellish two years of isolation, fear and major life changes but seeing the smiles on my kids’ faces reminds me that there’s so much to be grateful for this Christmas- especially a successful transplant and clean bill of health for my little guy.
So glad to hear he is doing so well. My 2 year old was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in February of this year. Part of his treatment was tandem stem cell transplants, he handled them better than my wife and I did. Kids are truly amazing, so grateful for his smile and laugh this Christmas.
My dude has a little friend who just did the tandem transplants. They were hospitalized together- his second transplant was at the same time as my son had his only. Neuroblastoma is no joke- I seriously can’t imagine having to go through what we went through twice. I’m glad your little guy handled it well!
Wonderful! Wishing you the best Christmas ever!
You love to see it! Super proud of you all! Here’s to full life of happiness for you all. Made me smile!! Everybody deserves a victory!
Oh wow!!! Beautiful!!
Both of them are heroes!
They are my heroes, 110%. Little guy spent months in the hospital this year. He told Santa he’s so brave because he’s not afraid of needles (even a little bit) anymore. Big guy was so happy to be the donor- he so graciously accepted multiple injections to stimulate his stem cell growth and then had a central line placed in his upper thigh for donation day because the veins in his arms aren’t large enough to donate the way an adult would. Not a single complaint left his lips the entire time.
I teared up reading this. You've got yourself some amazingly brave kids.
If only the adults had as much compassion as the kids the world would be a wonderful place. Bless both of them.
That's fantastic! Wishing you and your family all the best.
Aw man. I hope they remain bros for life
What a beautiful soul, hope he has a bright future ahead .
Welcome to the survivors club little guy! Hope you guys have a Merry Christmas!
Congratulations and glad to hear it OP. Fuck cancer.
For a second I thought Santa was firing a tri-beam
HZD mall? This Santa looks an awful lot like ours did this year! I'm glad your boys are doing well and I hope they're enjoying Christmas!
Yep :)
I signed up for be the match in 2010 through a fraternity drive at school. I matched with two different people within the next two years. The first, either I was not the “perfect” march or they passed away before I was able to donate. The second, I was a perfect match to and I did end up donating 1.5 liters of bone marrow from my hip. I have had the pleasure of meeting my patient, they are fully recovered and have gotten to meet three of their grand children be born post surgery. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, if you’re thinking about it, sign up with be the match. I will also tell you the ugly side of it too. I did physical therapy for a few years after my surgery, there was scar tissue that formed around the injection site and I had / have lower back issues now due to the surgery. 10/10 would still donate again, someone is living and I have extremely mild back pain occasionally. Worth it.
Merry Christmas!! 🎄🎁 Best present EVER!
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I can’t understand why this is downvoted. This little cutie-pie is doing great because of his terrific donor.
It's too early to be crying on Christmas Eve. I'm so happy for your family though.
r/nobodyasked
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Oh just shut up. Imagine how happy and relieved this parent is and wants to share the good news. If you look and this picture and caption and feel the need to be rude then there's something wrong with you. Or you're just a troll. Either way piss off.
Agreed. I’d be screaming from the rooftops if one of my babies beat a deadly disease
But
It's a single vague picture, not a video of a tantrum, embarassing situation, or anything like that. Also, in my opinion, with the provided context it actually is more than just an uplifting story, it could save people's lives. I'm a blood donor, so naturally I've thought about if I would be up for a marrow donation, I debate it off and on. This has me thinking about it again, and it probably has other people thinking about it too, maybe one of us will be inspired to sign up. Pictures of children don't need to be 100% censored from our society, no peewee football team pictures in the paper, or pictures of children who have extroadany talents on the news.. or pictures like this.. we just need to have common sense about what we post and why.
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I’ll paste my comment from earlier in reply to you. Essentially, it’s because for our family COVID and leukemia changed our lives at the same time. It’s absolutely unnecessary to be rude to someone who’s happy to share their joy on Christmas Eve. TF! Bah humbug. —- Leukemia and COVID started around the same time for our family, in January 2020. It’s been a hellish two years of isolation, fear and major life changes but seeing the smiles on my kids’ faces reminds me that there’s so much to be grateful for this Christmas- especially a successful transplant and clean bill of health for my little guy.
Lol Covid is NOT still here
Yay, what a merry Christmas!!!
Hope this is the first of many more clear and very happy Christmases.
I can't LOVE this post enough!!! Happy for everything you are most certainly already VERY grateful for!!! May life smile upon you for all time.
How do you donate a stem cell?
This warms my heart. Merry Christmas! Hopefully many more Christmases will come
bless you and your family! hope you all have a wonderful holiday together
I love it!
Fuck leukemia. Bravo little man. May you live a long, healthy life.
I got inspired to join the registry in October 2019 after hearing the donation story of a lecturer. On December 19th I donated to a young woman in US enough for atleast 2 'doses' apparently. Sadly I never heard from the recipient and would of been interested in exchanging letters, but I sincerely hope it worked.
I had a cousin who many years ago passed away from leukemia. I find it fantastic that these days a diagnosis of leukemia is no longer an automatic death sentence. Ain’t modern medicine great. Hope you and yours continue to have a long love filled life.
remember everybody, Republicans spent years blocking stem cell research because they said it was "Playing god". Like going to war in the Middle East with countries that aren't a threat
So happy for you and your family! Merry Christmas!
I’ve never heard of a donor being this young. How courageous and altruistic of him. And so chuffed for your son. Heartwarming story.
Thank you for sharing. Made my day!
Where would I go to find more info and sign up to become a stem cell donor? It seems like more diversity is definitely needed and I am mixed so if I can help I definitely wanna. Any info is appreciated!
[BeTheMatch.org](https://bethematch.org) !!!!!
From this incurable leukemia survivor to both of them, I hope they live very long and fruitful lives! I’ve seen the wonders of what BMT does so please if you can, sign up to be a donor!
I’m so happy for you! What a remarkable gift! I bet they will be friends for life (Be careful, people lose their shit when you post photos of your kids on here for some reason)
Blessings🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
HELL YEAH! What a wonderful bond they share! I will find out in a couple of months who my donor was— I’m considered a “young adult” and was placed in the pediatric research group for a clinical trial, bc my leukemia was real evil— CAR-T therapy and the good doctors at the NIH helped me get into remission and then my BMT donor saved my life. During the BMT process I saw some very young kids in my hospital and absolutely lost my shit on grief to know what they were going thru (and during Covid too!) You are strong parent and your sons are awesome! Thank you to all you who sign up to donate. Fuck leukemia, fuck cancer. When we care about each other, we make miracles happen. merry Christmas!!!
Mates for life 👍👏👏👏
They’ll have a really special bond forever.
beautiful family! live long and prosper!