This is from Dorothy. Thank you for joining with us in adding her request to our prayers and God bless you abundantly, Teri & Michael (see below)
Dear Michael,
Please ask the Prayer Warriors to pray fervently today for several friends, former teachers, and numerous individuals suffering cancer and awaiting a bone marrow transplant. We need to ask God for hope for them, and freedom from despair. Many thousands are on the list – families are dire and volunteers are racing against time to find matches. Please also ask prayers for more registrants to get on the bone marrow registry. More of us – especially Latino and African American individuals – need to swab our cheek and get on this list. It could save a life.
For any of the prayer warriors interested, here is the updated story of Chip Stam, one of the beautiful individuals I know (my collegiate music professor) who is on the list.
Much love and grateful thanks,
Dorothy
If someone told you that you could potentially save a life with the only risk being some minor discomfort, would you do it? That would be one helluva Valentine.
Some of my fondest memories of college involve singing under the baton of Carl Stam in the Notre Dame Glee Club. His passionate and expressive talents brought forth an energy and power that I could feel and am sure was passed on to the audience. His care and enthusiasm for the students did not stop with his job. That was 25 years ago and in the intervening years, I have had the pleasure of staying in touch with Carl.
Over the past few years Carl, or "Chip" has been battling non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He fought his cancer into remission, but this fall it came back with a vengeance. At this point his chance for life depends on Stem Cell Therapy with the stem cells being provided by a donor. The best match usually is in one's own family, but this is not the case for Chip, which means he has to rely on finding a match through the "Be The Match Registry" operated by National Marrow Donor Program.
Being a Match involves attending a live drive or ordering a kit via the mail. You fill out some paperwork and swab your cheek. The sample is then sent to the Be The Match Registry and the results are stored in the data base. If you are found to be a preliminary match for Chip or someone like him in urgent and desperate need of a Stem Cell transplant, they will contact you for further blood tests. If the match is confirmed you will be asked to donate stem cells or marrow (depending on what the patient's doctor needs). Most of the time it is Stem Cells.
Stem Cell donation involves taking injections for 5 days to boost the Stem Cell Count in your blood. This can cause achiness and discomfort for some (a bit like having the flu). After the 5 days, you go to a nearby collection center where they draw blood out of one arm (just like donating blood), spin it through a machine that removes the stem cells and cycles the blood back into your other arm. This takes place in one or two 3 hour sessions over one or two days. Typically, there is limited discomfort after the procedure and no aftereffects. The body has all the stem cells it needs to function properly.
Marrow donation is less often needed. It's more involved, but not near as dramatic or painful as portrayed in the Will Smith movie Seven Pounds. It's an outpatient procedure that takes a day and is performed in a donation center nearby the donor's home. It involves being under general anesthesia, then a needle inserted into 4 or so spots on in the hip or pelvic bone to draw out the liquid bone marrow. It is not the painful procedure many people believe it to be and, typically, the donor is done by mid afternoon. The aftereffects are soreness and some achiness for a couple of days (again think of flu aches). In both cases, there can be discomfort, but that seems like a very small price to pay for saving a life.
So for Valentine's Day, I'd like to encourage you to "Be The Perfect Match" for someone you may not know or ever meet. I've made a commitment to try and help find a match for Chip Stam. Success is a matter of numbers, the more people that register, the greater the odds of finding that Lifesaver. And , who knows, if not Chip, you might just save the life of another warm and wonderful person in need. If you go to www.CarlStam.org/stemcelldrive <http://www.carlstam.org/stemcelldrive> you can learn more. I encourage you to watch Chip's video. And then if you like, take action by clicking "Get a Kit" or "Give a Kit."
Would you be a Secret Valentine for someone and the "Perfect Match" this Valentine's Day to save a life? Life is a gift far sweeter than chocolate. It has no calories, no fat and can be saved and consumed at the same time.
Please ask the Prayer Warriors to pray fervently today for several friends, former teachers, and numerous individuals suffering cancer and awaiting a bone marrow transplant. We need to ask God for hope for them, and freedom from despair. Many thousands are on the list – families are dire and volunteers are racing against time to find matches. Please also ask prayers for more registrants to get on the bone marrow registry. More of us – especially Latino and African American individuals – need to swab our cheek and get on this list. It could save a life.
For any of the prayer warriors interested, here is the updated story of Chip Stam, one of the beautiful individuals I know (my collegiate music professor) who is on the list.
Much love and grateful thanks,
Dorothy
If someone told you that you could potentially save a life with the only risk being some minor discomfort, would you do it? That would be one helluva Valentine.
Some of my fondest memories of college involve singing under the baton of Carl Stam in the Notre Dame Glee Club. His passionate and expressive talents brought forth an energy and power that I could feel and am sure was passed on to the audience. His care and enthusiasm for the students did not stop with his job. That was 25 years ago and in the intervening years, I have had the pleasure of staying in touch with Carl.
Over the past few years Carl, or "Chip" has been battling non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He fought his cancer into remission, but this fall it came back with a vengeance. At this point his chance for life depends on Stem Cell Therapy with the stem cells being provided by a donor. The best match usually is in one's own family, but this is not the case for Chip, which means he has to rely on finding a match through the "Be The Match Registry" operated by National Marrow Donor Program.
Being a Match involves attending a live drive or ordering a kit via the mail. You fill out some paperwork and swab your cheek. The sample is then sent to the Be The Match Registry and the results are stored in the data base. If you are found to be a preliminary match for Chip or someone like him in urgent and desperate need of a Stem Cell transplant, they will contact you for further blood tests. If the match is confirmed you will be asked to donate stem cells or marrow (depending on what the patient's doctor needs). Most of the time it is Stem Cells.
Stem Cell donation involves taking injections for 5 days to boost the Stem Cell Count in your blood. This can cause achiness and discomfort for some (a bit like having the flu). After the 5 days, you go to a nearby collection center where they draw blood out of one arm (just like donating blood), spin it through a machine that removes the stem cells and cycles the blood back into your other arm. This takes place in one or two 3 hour sessions over one or two days. Typically, there is limited discomfort after the procedure and no aftereffects. The body has all the stem cells it needs to function properly.
Marrow donation is less often needed. It's more involved, but not near as dramatic or painful as portrayed in the Will Smith movie Seven Pounds. It's an outpatient procedure that takes a day and is performed in a donation center nearby the donor's home. It involves being under general anesthesia, then a needle inserted into 4 or so spots on in the hip or pelvic bone to draw out the liquid bone marrow. It is not the painful procedure many people believe it to be and, typically, the donor is done by mid afternoon. The aftereffects are soreness and some achiness for a couple of days (again think of flu aches). In both cases, there can be discomfort, but that seems like a very small price to pay for saving a life.
So for Valentine's Day, I'd like to encourage you to "Be The Perfect Match" for someone you may not know or ever meet. I've made a commitment to try and help find a match for Chip Stam. Success is a matter of numbers, the more people that register, the greater the odds of finding that Lifesaver. And , who knows, if not Chip, you might just save the life of another warm and wonderful person in need. If you go to www.CarlStam.org/stemcelldrive <http://www.carlstam.org/stemcelldrive> you can learn more. I encourage you to watch Chip's video. And then if you like, take action by clicking "Get a Kit" or "Give a Kit."
Would you be a Secret Valentine for someone and the "Perfect Match" this Valentine's Day to save a life? Life is a gift far sweeter than chocolate. It has no calories, no fat and can be saved and consumed at the same time.
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