Monday, April 25, 2011

SAVE A LIFE

On Friday, I did something that I had never done before, I registered for the Canadian Bone Marrow registry.  I was inspired because of one woman's story Cathy Anagnostopoulos.  She is a 44 year old mother of 3 children and has been recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).  Cathy is in need of a Stem Cell Transplant from a matched donor, because Cathy is of Greek decent,  a match within the Greek Community is most likely, however all ethnicities are encouraged to register. 

Registering was the easiest thing I have ever done, I filled out a form, sat at a table and swabbed the inside of my cheeks. That was it, it took about 5 minutes.  I did however start crying. I was trying to figure out why.  I began to think about this woman, who is most likely fighting the biggest fight of her life and she is doing everything she can to beat cancer.  I don't know Cathy, but I can conclude that she is loved by many, it shows by the number of volunteers that have been tirelessly working at all these events. I don't know if I will be her match, but maybe I am someone elses. 

Registering is a personal choice that only you can make, however if you would like to register,  Cathy's family and friends are holding a number of swabbing events through out the city of Toronto. If you do not live in the Toronto area there are other ways.

Check out:

www.helpsavecathy.com
www.onematch.ca
www.facebook.com/HelpSaveCathy




Please consider joining the Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Registry, you could help save a life. Anyone between the ages of 17 and 50 can join. All you have to do is rub a swab on the inside of your cheeks. It is as simple as that. If you are a match, the actual transplant procedure, in most cases, is like donating blood.

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