Posts tagged mom
One Match Needed to Save a Mother’s Life: Updated
Jul 2nd
This story speaks for itself. It has been written by a husband in desperate need to help his wife. It is your chance to possibly save a life and if not Erica’s than someone that is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant. Please consider donating today. Please post this on your Facebook page, tweet it or create your own post to spread this urgent call for help across the globe. Time is of the essence. I have added link at the bottom of places all over the world that you can give a sample to. It’s easy and urgent. Please donate today.
Erica, I love you my dear friend and my families prayers are with you every day.
Urgent Plea for Bone Marrow Donors to Help My Amazing Wife and Super-Mama – Erica
Erica Needs our Help to Survive
This is our urgent plea to you and to everyone that you know to help my amazing wife/our boys’ super-mama Erica find a suitable bone marrow transplant donor to help to save her life and to get her back home to our two young boys (ages 2 and 5). The picture is a recent shot of Erica in hospital.
On the afternoon of June 6, 2012 we were told that Erica had acute mylogenous leukemia (AML). She was immediately admitted to the Leukemia/BMT ward at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and a first round of chemo was started on June 8th. The first round lasted 7 days.
The intent of chemotherapy for AML (an acute form of blood cancer) is to wipe out all of the bad (leukemic) as well as the good cells in Erica’s bone marrow (where blood cells are formed and grow). What the doctors are looking for after the chemo treatment is for the bone marrow to be entirely clear of all cells, enabling Erica’s healthy cells to start growing again without the bad leukemic cells (essentially pressing a bone marrow ”reset” button). When the bone marrow is clear after chemo and the recovery period, the doctors call it ”remission”.
On June 21st, Erica had a bone marrow biopsy to determine if the 1st round of chemo had done its job. Instead of a clear marrow, what showed was about 10% “immature” cells. The concern of her doctors was that these were bad leukemic cells that were not destroyed by the chemo.
On June 28th, Erica had another bone marrow biopsy. We received the results the next day, on Friday, June 29th. These results showed clearly that the 1st round of chemo did not do its job. As of June 28th, the bad leukemic cells were estimated at 60% to 70% of her marrow. When this all started at the beginning of June, before any chemo treatments, her bad cells were estimated at 26%.
What does this mean? For starters, we were told that this result means that she is in the “high risk” designation for AML. Very high doses of different, harsher chemo drugs and a bone marrow transplant (BMT) are the urgent course of treatment.
They started what they call ”salvage” chemo on Saturday morning (June 30th). This aggressive round of chemo lasts 6 days, with a 4 to 6 week estimated ”recovery” period afterwards. We were also told that if this chemo does not do its job and put Erica’s leukemia into remission that there are no other courses of treatment for Erica at VGH. Assuming this harsher chemo does its job, Erica needs a BMT right away. The BMT has to occur shortly after this round of chemo, once remission is indicated (ie that the marrow is clear of the bad leukemic cells).
We need your urgent assistance with the bone marrow.
We need to find Erica as close a match as possible for her BMT from an un-related donor. There are international bone marrow donor registries that are being searched right now. As of Friday, the doctor indicated that a match had not been found yet. Further, if a match is found somewhere in the world, that donor has to confirm their consent.
Our window of time is very short to find a suitable, willing donor if the chemo does its job and the marrow is clear.
If you, or someone you know, agree to donate, and get on the donor registry very quickly, you may be able to assist Erica.
Please encourage friends, colleagues and family to sign up to the registry to donate their stem cells/bone marrow if they are able.
Please circulate and post this information and our plea everywhere you can.
For those of you in Canada, below is a link to the “One Match” bone marrow registry run by Canadian Blood Services (CBS). Information about the registry and forms to complete are on this site Canadian Blood Services. For those of you not in Canada please search to find the donor opportunities in your country of origin.
There is a process to follow. Once you sign up online, CBS contacts you in 8-10 business days and sends you a swab kit – you can contact your local CBS office to see if you can shorten this timeline and/or have the swab done at their location. Time is of the essence.
Also, if you, and/or anyone you know, are able to donate blood and/or platelets – this is also very important. Erica had a number of transfusions of platelets and haemoglobins in her first round of chemo and we anticipate there will be many more transfusions during this next chemo treatment. You never realize how important donating blood and platelets really is until you are receiving them.
Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, strength and support.
Thank you for spreading the word and circulating our plea.
Thank you for helping to bring Erica home.
Faith, Hope and Love
Team Harris
“Go Fighters Go”
(This is what our boys say to their mama to help her get her healthy “fighter” cells working again in her body)
United States: http://marrow.org/Join/
UK: http://www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/
Germany: http://www.zkrd.de/de/
Australia: http://www.abmdr.org.au/
New Zealand: http://www.nzblood.co.nz/
Czech: http://www.kostnidren.cz/
Belgium: http://www.transfusion.be/
Portugal: http://www.chsul.pt/
Ireland: www.giveblood.ie/
Day 354: Family Give Day: The Sister Give
Oct 2nd
I think we have all heard the saying ‘Charity begins at home‘ and this week this could not be more true! My sister has started this movement, 365give.ca where she writes everyday, gives everyday to people she knows, people she does not know, the planet, international organizations and tons of other causes and projects. She has been giving for more years than anyone would know and I am thrilled that she has formalized her passion and energy into a public educational program.
But sometimes the giver needs a give. And sometimes your sister needs a give to get her over a large hurdle.
So the give today is to my sister, Jacqueline Way, and this give will continue for the ext few days as she gets settled into Mommyhood once again. See Day 353 on her newest family member and miracle.
Day 354: Give 354: The Giver gets a Give: guest post by Nicola Inwood
If you have not heard, my sister Jacqueline will be adopted a new baby this week. This has been a long process of waiting, some disappointments as there were some adoptions that did not go through, some heart wrenching moments and some great patience on her part. The day has come when she gets her greatest give, a new baby, and as her sister, I get to give her the greatest give, making sure that she has support for another passion, 365give.
We live in different countries, and at this point will not overload her house with yet another person to get in the way, I will from afar give my time and dedication to her 365give.ca site as she settles into motherhood2 (squared). The duty of 365give.ca will be taken off if need be and I will submit the posts, or tweet or post on facebook while she settles.
This is my give to my sister for as long as she needs.
The Giver is not the best Receiver
In case you are not aware, Givers are not the best receivers. There are many givers out there, many of you who read this blog are great givers and one of the downfalls of a Giver is that they do not receive very well. It is my hope that Jacqueline will become as good of a Receiver as she is a Giver in this circumstance. Having a new baby pop into your life without the 9 months of preparation is a big change, and I only want the best for her, her first born Nicolas and husband David in this case. So work with me people and lets give Jacqueline full support as she flips into this new family mode.
Remember your family when thinking about your give of the day
It is easy to forget about our own family when we are thinking about the give of the day. But charity does start at home and I am happy that on 365give.ca we can ironically come full circle. So I am dedicating this day today, as a Family Give Day, where each of us looks to our immediate family, husband, sister, brother, child or roommate and give to them today.
We have Fathers Day, we have Mothers Day, we have Secretary’s Day and Bosses Day, but for some reason we don’t have a Sisters Day or Brothers Day. Mexico celebrates Kids Day, El dia de los Ninos, but sisters and brothers seem to be forgotten in these celebrations. So in your give today, phone your sister, help them with a chore, take their kids, or tell them that you appreciate them. Write them a note like Jacqueline did on Father’s Day.
Sisters Day Today
So if the 365give voice seems a bit different, know that it is Jacqueline’s sister providing a give of the day to help her settle in. It may be one give it may be a series of gives, but the Giver is getting a give for as long as she needs it….
Time commitment – Does not matter
Price – Priceless, the opportunity to give to your sister is really priceless
Related Gives
My other sister gives to 365give on Jacqueline’s birthday
Day 352: Who is Kiva Anyway?
Sep 29th
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38QqK7MElSY&feature
When I started 365give I had no idea what Kiva was or how micro financing really worked.
On Day 9 I made my first Kiva loan and the giving will continue for a lifetime.
Day 352: Give 352
It all started with $125 loan. It has now turned into giving an additional $220 worth of loans. How does that work?
I just keep re-giving the funds. I even get an email reminding me when my loan has been repaid or a portion of the loan, so I am able to give again. You can choose your loans by region, gender even the type of business you would like to support. You can give a Kiva Gift Card for birthdays and holidays ( I did just that on Day 163 to my nephews – an additional $50).
Today my loan went to a group of women in Viet Nam. I like to support women around the world to start and grow businesses. This photo instantly grabbed me. The strength and determination in these women’s faces was obvious. The women are in the agricultural business and you know how hard they must work to raise their families and manage the business at the same time. I was honoured to assist them in any way I could.
Have you given to Kiva? Share your story with us!
Time Commitment: 3 minutes to reinvest my loan
Cost: $50 loan that cost me nothing part of my original $125 loan.
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