[squirrellypoo]

Originally Posted by Neil Cuadra

May I ask why it took 5 years to learn about your donor? Was this a restriction imposed on you or just a matter of when you and your donor decided you were ready to exchange information?

It just boils down to a lack of information, really. I wrote him a letter at 1 year, but when I didn't hear back at all, I figured he just didn't want the attention and maybe thought nothing of the donation, so I didn't write again.

But then earlier this year, I learned through Twitter that many donors aren't allowed to respond to recipient letters! So that changed my mind and I thought I'd write to him again at my 5th rebirthday, and in getting the proper address from Anthony Nolan, I learned I could request for consent forms to exchange personal information. This was the first I'd heard of it, so I did, and he received the request along with my 5th year letter. It was then another month or so before I got a phone call from Anthony Nolan saying they were sending his contact info through.

Thank you to all of your congratulations! I hope that my posting here will inspire other BMT patients to believe that they can get through this some day and be even fitter than they were before their illness. I only ever ran one 10km race before I got ill, and never dreamed that one day I'd ever regain my fitness, let alone run faster or run half marathons or full marathons like I do now!

Oh, and I got a mention in another runner's Berlin Marathon race report! I saw him in our starting pen and went over to say Hi and that Anthony Nolan found me my bone marrow donor. http://www.blueeyedsun.co.uk/blog/an...greeting-card/