Baldy's Blog; This is worth a visit and a moment of your time.
Adrian Sudbury is dying, he has leukaemia and had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 but sadly developed graft vs host disease which means that his body saw the donated bone marrow as being foreign matter and started to attack it; and now the leukaemia is back and he officially has a relapse. The outcome is bleak, and he is making the most of what time he has by highlighting the need for more volunteers to come forward and donate bone marrow.
I have been lucky enough to have donated bone marrow, eleven years ago I was contacted by the National blood service see here, and went through comprehensive testing to ensure I was the closest match (needs to be good in unrelated donors). Lots of meetings, tests later I was informed I was the closest match and after a brief sojourn in a hospital in Bristol with a general anaesthetic +, and a couple of plasters over my back I was home again and no ill effects. I chose not to know anything about the recipient, whether they made it or not as I saw the donation as no more than the giving of a pint of blood, albeit under different circumstances; just another chance for someone to live a bit longer.
+ there are more choices about how it is done these days, it doesn't always involve an anaesthetic.
The more publicity this has the better, so please consider putting something on your blog and raise the awareness of this one small thing.
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