To those anonymous Blood Donors - Thank You for giving me Life!
 |
| My six medical specialists at my bedside in the UCH in London, UK |
Blood donors save lives!
I was
walking in a 16th century market place in a little village north of
London, called Hitchen, when a woman with a blood drop badge walked past
me. I stopped, turned around and
hurried after her. In those minutes it
took for me to reach her and tap her on the shoulder, I remembered how
unfriendly and private English people are as well as the number of rebuffs I
had received from just saying good morning to another. “Do I know you?” was the usual response to a
simple greeting.
This time,
I felt compelled to speak to the woman.
I had something very important to tell her. I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned
around.
“I hope you do not mind”, I said. “But I have to speak to you. Is that badge on your lapel because you
donate blood?” I asked.
“Yes, it is”, she responded.
“I have never donated blood”, I said. “I am the one who has received the gift of
blood from others. I just wanted to say
thank you”.
She took a
step back and looked at me for what seemed the longest time. Her eyes welled up and a single tear started
running down her cheek.
“Do you know that I have been donating blood for
20 years and no one has ever thanked me.
I have often wondered if my blood had ever saved anyone and who those
people would be. This is the first time
I have met anyone who has received blood and thanked me for a donation”.
I fumbled
in my bag to find a tissue, handing it too her so that she could wipe away her
tears. She took the tissue but did not
bother to use it. Instead, she started
thanking me for making an ordinary day into a memorable experience. I was humbled by her delight at what I had thought
would be another “Do I know you?” experience.
I had been
diagnosed, after many hospitalisations and blood transfusions, with a rare form
of leukaemia which only affects 2 – 3 out of every 1 million people. The twelve units of blood that I had received
over the months when no one knew what was depleting my red blood cells, had
given the medical profession time to find out what was wrong with me, and had
given me life, over and over again.
“This is the nicest form of cancer to have”,
said the consultant. “Just one round of
chemotherapy and you will be better.
There is no cure, but we know how to manage this one”.
It was not
one, not even two, but three cycles of chemotherapy and numerous blood
transfusions again, only this time it was irradiated blood because I was on
chemotherapy. Still, I only managed to
achieve partial remission which really just meant that there was still residual
disease left in my bone marrow. Irradiated blood is required after chemotherapy
to reduce graft vs host disease which is a substantial risk, especially after
numerous blood transfusions. I decided
to come home to South Africa where I thought I would get the support that I
needed from my family.
There are
many stories that can be taken out of the bigger story, many dreams and hopes
along the way on the journey with cancer that leave you alternating between
hope and despair. This story is one of
many, and it is only about the importance of having blood donors who donate
their blood so unselfishly and most of the time, without any recognition for
their contribution, to save other people’s lives.
That first consultant,
who said that this was the nicest cancer to have, certainly did not know what
it is like to live with a rare disease that no one understands, and that
ninety-nine percent of all haematologists and oncologists will probably never
see in their lifetime of medicine.
After many,
many months of looking for a cure in the pot of gold on the other side of every
rainbow – only to find that the pot of gold was not there – I found a
physician, in Bloemfontein, who was prepared to go the extra mile to find
something that would give me quality of life.
With fourteen ampules of blood sent to the research laboratory in
Pretoria, we had another answer. I had
an absent immune system. Because I have
no building blocks in my immune system, there is no cure. I would probably not die from the leukaemia,
but from an opportunistic disease as simple as the common cold.
The good
news was that there was something that could be done to improve and lengthen my
life. Stabilized human serum, containing
the immune system of other people, could be extracted from donated blood and
infused into me. This has to be done
every two weeks, because within two weeks the immune system of others will have
become depleted again. For the rest of
my life, however long that may or may not be, I am totally reliant on blood
donors.
There are
no words to convey the gratitude I have for every blood donor. Thank you for giving me life!
Posts
1 comments:
Wow Dianne, that is one of the most heart felt posts I have read. There are so many beautiful aspects to life and we are often shown them when we least expect it. Your story has really made me aware of the importance of donating blood.
Stay beautiful and have a wonderful day! Thank you for taking the time to share your story.
Chanzie @ Mean Who You Are.
Post a Comment