[mausmish]

A copy and paste from our blog:

Michael and I are very excited! I’ve been corresponding with my donor, Mary Lou, all week. She’s a delightful person, as I knew she must be. We’re flying to Washington state to meet her and her family in May, so I’ll finally be able to thank her face to face. In the meantime, we’ll continue to be in touch. Getting to know each other is both interesting and fun! Words can’t begin to describe how I’m feeling.

Mary Lou has kindly given us permission to post her comments about being a donor:

“My [bone marrow] donation experience was wonderful – I received so much support from every person that I encountered throughout the process. I live in SW Washington – our home is actually on the Columbia River which borders Washington and Oregon so I’m about as far south in the state as you can go! I had to go to Seattle, which is about 3 hours away, on 3 separate occasions for screening, pre-op and the procedure. The procedure itself was uneventful. Post-op, I recovered very nicely. I anticipated that it would be extremely painful and was pleasantly surprised that it was not as bad as I feared. It took about a month or so for me to return to my normal energy level. I would do it again in a heartbeat, and have encouraged everyone I know to sign up for the donor registry. My husband and I had signed up about 5 years before I was called as a potential donor. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to get on the registry – just provide a cheek swab and you are good to go! I honestly don’t understand why anyone who is able, would not sign up to be on this registry. The discomfort/inconvenience a donor goes through is nothing compared to the gift that they can give. Many people I knew were skeptical about me doing this and would say, ‘I could never do something like that,’ and that is just so hard for me to understand.”

To donate, visit the Be the Match at http://marrow.org/.