KNOW MY STORY. Testimonials from bone marrow and transplant donors

18/05/22 This day remains engraved in my retinas for a lifetime. DONATE MÉDULA is an act that is difficult to explain with words... it is a cluster of wonderful sensations, a personal satisfaction, to think that with your contribution you are going to save a life, in the most altruistic way, from love, from empathy .

There is no more beautiful feeling than two unknown people, being connected in the world, thinking of each other, with faith and hope, that everything turns out well. With your head thinking 24/7: "hold on a little longer UNSTOPPABLE, my help will arrive soon".

I will tell you my story... 1 year ago, I received a call from the Josep Carreras Foundation informing me that I was compatible with a patient with leukemia, who needed a bone marrow transplant, on the other side of the pond. Everything was going well until the pandemic situation hindered the process.

2 weeks ago, I received another call with very good news... the process had been resumed. I was the ideal donor for the same patient and the transplant was urgently needed. At that moment I was shocked, but I did what my heart felt, move on...

15/11/2021. Last February something inside me, crazy and senseless, as almost always, told me: "become a bone marrow donor."

A few months later, being the month of August, I receive a call and they tell me "are you a potential donor for a cancer patient". I get stuck...I couldn't explain the emotion to you well.

Last October, they did all kinds of medical tests that ended yesterday with a PCR and a negative result, so everything starts tomorrow...

I don't know how to thank this opportunity that life gives me to be able to try to save another person.

I don't know her, I don't know her sex, religion, ideology... and honestly I don't care, it's a life and something tells me that "life" gives second chances and that you have to take advantage of them. I think a lot about that other person, about her family (if he has it), about knowing that this time, there is hope...

I still don't get the idea.

In my work, I have always wanted to take care of, protect and take risks to save someone (perhaps the only one who was trying to save me was myself...)

My name is Enrique and I am a chimera. When I was 17 years old, they gave me the fateful news that I had Burkitt's lymphoma, which after overcoming it and due to excessive chemotherapy degenerated into acute myeloblastic leukemia, when I was only 20 years old. After a long and difficult second battle, it was decided that he needed a new bone marrow.

A chimera by definition is a mythological being whose body is a hybrid composition between various animals. The reality is that chimeras are not as mythological as we think. Right now I am one of those mythological beings, I am a composition of cells from two different people. My older sister decided to altruistically give me a piece of herself and thanks to that I can be here telling my story.

Today I am 25 years old and the disease seems to be becoming a bitter but distant memory, and yet, whatever happens, I will always carry a little piece of my sister inside me.

I am 45 years old and have been a bone marrow donor for at least 6 years. In March 2021 I received one of the most important calls of my life.

I did not hesitate one second. I'm not a believer, but I know for sure that it was a gift my mother sent me from wherever she is, that she lost her battle against cancer a year and a half ago (well, I don't like to say that she lost it, because she fought like a pig ). Something that has kept me going.

On July 13, I donated bone marrow (through apheresis), I had to return the next day since my recipient was twice my weight. The process? Very easy, very simple and completely painless. And then it is possible that, as in my case, the foundation will send you a few words of thanks from your recipient. A beautiful letter!

Somewhere in the world I have one more brother. I would do it again a thousand times. The medical team at the Puerta de Hierro Hospital and Transfusion Center? WONDERFUL!!

Thanks to all the people who make this possible.

My story: I don't know if this period is very common, but in my case, from the time I registered in the registry until the donation, about 20 years passed.

Around the year 2001, the father of a good friend was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. I already regularly donated blood, and for a while plasma, but as a result of the diagnosis and treatment of my friend's father, we registered as bone marrow donors. When they called me to donate in July of this year, in addition to being happy for having the opportunity to help, I was also happy because -although my friend's father finally died in 2012- his illness was the origin of another person receiving a transplant of marrow some 20 years later.

As for the donation, I couldn't be happier. Everyone - the blood transfusion center team, the doctor and the nurses from October 12 - was super attentive throughout the entire process. The truth is that I am very grateful to have been able to be part of that, it is a super rewarding experience.

Hello everyone! My name is Maribel, I'm from Madrid.

I was a blood donor and in 2014, during a donation, they told me about the possibility of becoming a marrow donor, and since then I entered the REDMO registry.

At the end of 2019, I received the call with the surprise that it was compatible for someone. In May 2020 it was the first proposal of dates for the donation, but it had to be postponed several times, due to the state of the pandemic, and health relapses of the recipient.

Finally, on February 8th, we were able to carry it out!

In my case it was by apheresis, somewhat longer to avoid doing it in 2 days. The process is very simple, it only requires taking a previous medication a few days before, to generate Super Cells! and that you can be extracted. Then the day of the donation itself, which is a few hours in bed.

If you are thinking about it, I highly encourage you to sign up! Only 25 percent of patients can receive a donation from a family member, let's give the other 75 chances!

And a huge hug and a lot of strength for all the UNSTOPPABLE fighters! 

In October 2012 I was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia. The treatment kept me well until February 2013 when I woke up full of bruises, went to the emergency room and stayed in the hospital. bad prognosis.

We started chemo until we found a compatible donor. Lucky that one of my brothers was 50% compatible with me. In June 2013 they performed the transplant, there was no other option. And in REDMO there was no more compatible donor. Luckily I did not have any subsequent admission, everything went well, slowly and with minor complications.

I had two difficult moments, the first admission and the transplant. You come out immunosuppressed, weak and for a year, very limited.

Remembering all the staff at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital excites me, I am very grateful. My way of thanking all they had done to keep me alive is through my novel "Leukemia in the backpack."

My values ​​changed, before I thought about progress in the world of work, now about having a glass of water on a terrace with my wife, going to the movies... that's what life is worth.

Thanks to donors, people live.

Hello, my name is José and I have been a regular blood donor for more than 10 years. In November 2019, my sister gave birth at the Getafe Hospital and at that moment I went to meet my nephew. When he was going to the maternity area, I saw a blood bank donation sign and that encouraged me to come closer. The team that treated me in Getafe told me that apart from being a regular blood donor I could become a bone marrow donor. Since I met all the requirements and had enough information, I took the step of registering.

Now it was time to wait, you never know how long you will have to wait. In my case, the truth is that it was quite fast from the month of November, which is when I registered, until I received a call because a compatibility had appeared. Barely three months had passed.

In the month of February I received a call, but during that time my life had changed; now I lived in Barcelona. It did not constitute any difficulty, they solved everything for me to donate in Barcelona.

My donation was through peripheral blood: through a puncture in one arm the blood comes out, which is separated by a machine from the cells of the bone marrow and through the other arm they reintroduced my blood.

It is a very fast and simple process, it barely lasted 4 or 5 hours and after the day of the donation I immediately recovered my usual activity. I returned to my job the next day and in a few days I was doing all my usual activities.

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