Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Match Found!

We have great news that a match has been found for Natalie's transplant! Thank you so much to all of you who have worked so hard for her drives, prayed for us, spent your free time emailing your network of friends to come to the drives, ordered kits to swab your friends, sent in kits, tested, and supported us through the search.

We heard that Natalie's hometown drive at Gregory Gardens was wonderful and 700 people came from all over the bay area (some from Sacramento)to get tested and registered. Gregory Gardens families and staff, you are all truly amazing people. Thank you so much for pulling the community together and putting so much heart into helping us and so many people in our situation. We know some of you got there at 7am and didn't leave until 6:00 pm that day.

The Cal drive also went well too. Our friends and volunteers got 200 people tested and registered. We heard that some people actually thought they were donating their marrow that same day and were ready to do that. Wow.

Thank you to everyone who organized and helped with all the other drives as well. If we haven't mentioned specific information from those drives, it's just because we haven't heard the stories yet from those drives. We are sure there are special stories there too. We feel so lucky to have so many people support and carry us through this hard time. We honestly would not be able to do any of this without you all.

We are so happy a match has been found. Yes, the donor is asian. What a special and wonderful gift this person has given our family. It's one less thing to worry about as we gear up for the transplant, which is now targeted for early April. We need all your prayers that it goes really well without any complications.

For those of you who are still doing drives and getting people registered, please don't stop. We encourage people to keep getting tested and registered. We really want the registry to grow with more minorities getting tested as we have learned that there is truly a need out there for minorities to get registered.

The immediate need we have now is for prayers that Natalie's counts go up so she can go home for a couple of days. We were hoping this weekend, but it's taking longer than we expected. We really want Sean and Natalie to get some time together. As you may know, all hospitals are not allowing children under 16 to come visit due to H1N1(swine flu). They won't even allow siblings to visit. Sean and Natalie have not seen each other in person for a month.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is good news indeed, Tammy! Tears are in my eyes as I read this. We'll be praying for the transplant, and for Natalie to be able to be home soon.

Love, Howard, Gina, Madeline, and Kyle

Jean said...

Dear Natalie and Tammy,
My name is Jean and I’m a volunteer with the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link. Our organization helps patients, caregivers, and families cope with the social and emotional challenges of transplant by providing vital information and personalized support services. We subscribe to Google blog alerts, where we found your story.
Please know that others are thinking of you and pulling for you! I'd like to send you a copy of our "Caregivers' Guide for BMT" if you will send a mailing address to me at jeansjones@gmail.com.
To learn more about our programs and services, please visit www.nbmtlink.org or call 800-546-5268.
All the best!

Unknown said...

So happy to hear the good news. Wishing Natalie a successful transplant!

-Van

Heather said...

YAY!!!! Such good news. We'll keep praying.

The Bushore Family said...

That's awesome news, Tammy! Our prayers have been answered! God does works miracle! I'm so happy for you and the family. Will keep praying for Natalie and for a successful transplant.

Chi