Erika's brother, Paul, came in two weeks ago to get a test done on his blood for a possible match of bone marrow. The result came in today and he is not. Erika has a rare combination of antigens in her blood. No one in the donor database is a match at the moment. Currently, it's too early to say whether she needs a transplant or not. She will need to be on chemotherapy for another 3-4 more months to determine if she needs one. Let hope she doesn't.
Here is a link to FAQs of being a donor. Bone Marrow Donor Registry.
Wow....=( We will definately be praying that Erika won't need a transplant =) But if she does we pray that someone is out there who is a match will come forward =) Love you Lots Erika!!
ReplyDeleteCan we all get tested if she does?
ReplyDeleteHey, girlie! I just registered with the Bone Marrow Registry on-line. Just going to wait for the test kit in the mail. Ernie, Alexa, and my parents will be doing the same thing. Keep your head up and let's hope for a match! Love you! XOXO
ReplyDeleteSo how do I get tested?
ReplyDeleteThe same site from the link above has a section to register. Understand that this process is not specific to Erika. You are becoming registered to help anyone who is a match to you that is in need. Yearly around 3000 people with leukemia in the US alone are dying from not having a match.
DeleteI'm registered over here! I would surely hope we don't need it but it will be nice to have someone on stand by just in case. Love you cuz!
ReplyDeleteBrenden and Erika, this is Lauriann, Shawn Rosenvall's wife. I finally had a moment this morning to read part of your blog, and I am so impressed with how well the two of you are handling things! I was inspired by your story, and I wanted to let you know that I put a shout out in my Facebook page for all of my friends and family to please sign up and be tested to donate blood marrow. Here is a link to my page - https://www.facebook.com/lrosenvall. Here is what I posted and I will continue to post every couple of days. Hopefully we can get more of a pool and a match for Erika if she needs it. Please let Shawn or I know if we can do anything else in the meantime. Thanks!
ReplyDelete"Many of you know of the miracle my family received this past year, when my uncle sacrificed and gave one of his kidneys for my Mom so that she could have a second chance at life. I will forever be grateful for his unselfishness, and it has given me a new outlook on organ donations and everything along those lines.
Shawn has a co-worker whose wife is facing a different type of challenge, she is facing Cancer, specifically - Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It looks like she will need a bone marrow transplant, but there are no matches in the bone marrow bank. Now my Mom was so blessed to have my uncle as a match, but that is rarely the case.
As I was reading Erika's Blog - http://erikate87.blogspot.com/ I strongly felt that I needed to send out a call to my friends and family to please sign up and have a testing kit sent to you to see if you might match. How wonderful would it be to help save someone's life, and not even have to donate an organ like my uncle did, but just in the gift of some bone marrow, it would make the difference of life or death. Here is the link to the bone marrow donation site - http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx Thanks you guys! I love you all and I feel so blessed to have all of you in my life!!"