Patients suffering from leukemia and lymphoma all over the globe are forced to go without a bone marrow transplant due to the difficulty of finding a suitable donor.
Be The Match is one of the many groups that are working to assist find solutions to problems like this one. Be The Match is a charitable organization that works to improve patient outcomes by facilitating connections between them and potential organ donors.
The Life-Saving Power of Be the Match
To be eligible to donate bone marrow, a person must be between the ages of 18 and 40 and fulfill the organization’s health requirements.
Once they have identified a patient who is a match for the application, they can go through with the donation, which will ultimately aid in the survival of a person facing cancer.
In addition to this, they participate in fundraising events and make monetary contributions. In exchange, they provide comprehensive assistance to the patients and the relatives of those patients.
Bone marrow donation, in and of itself, has been of assistance to millions of cancer patients thanks to Be The Match. One of them is a small child from Indiana who is just three years old and who was rescued by a young lady from Boston.
Jacob is battling leukemia at this time.
Jacob Parry was just 14 months old when he was diagnosed with leukemia. Because the disease has aggressively entered not just the boy’s blood and bone marrow but also his skin, the medical staff at Riley Hospital for Children recommended that the youngster have a blood stem cell transplant in order to treat his malignancy.
A few years ago, when little Jacob was having trouble in the hospital, Rachel Buck was a senior in college at the University of Haven, getting ready to go on to the next phase of her life.
On the day of her school’s “Get in the Game” recruiting event, which was ultimately deadly, she registered for the Be The Match Registry. Rachel, who also had a family member battling cancer, did not have any second thoughts about becoming a member because of this.
Only approximately 30% of patients can discover a match within their family, leaving the other 70% to depend on the registry—basically strangers—reports Rachel. This number “really stayed with me,” she said. Only approximately 30% of patients may identify a match inside their family, according to a figure that truly struck a chord with me.
“That really struck me because I couldn’t imagine having a family member in need like that and not being able to assist them,” the speaker said. “That just struck me as being completely inconceivable.”
A call comes in for Rachel that might end up saving Jacob’s life.
A couple of years later, Rachel got a phone call informing her that she was a match for a leukemia kid who was just one year old.
Almost immediately, she gave her consent to become Jacob’s donor. “The fact that he was only 14 months old at the time really hit home for me since I have two nieces who are around the same age as he is.” I was just unable to fathom what his family was going through at that time. Rachel said, “From that point on, I was really anxious to accomplish whatever it was that I could.”
Rachel courageously had the bone marrow transplant only a few days before her birthday. The procedure, which lasted just about an hour and a half, was rather quick. Even though the whole experience was nerve-wracking, Rachel was certain that she would do it all over again in an instant.
Finally, Jacob Gets to Meet His Sponsor
Rachel did not eventually get to meet Jacob and his family until two years after the operation. They wanted to arrange a meeting between her and Jacob, the person who benefited from her donation since the Bravehearts baseball team was holding events every week to encourage additional people to become contributors.
Rachel said, “I was beyond a reasonable level of anxious.” It was a concern of mine that they would not like me or that Jacob, who was only three at the time, could try to escape from me. They aren’t the kind of people who crave the spotlight, but after all, they’ve gone through, their fortitude and perseverance need to be recognized.
Rachel was taken aback by how enthusiastic and pleased Jacob was to finally meet her. She struck up a conversation with Jacob and his family right away.
In point of fact, her family and Jacob’s family got together the next weekend and spent the time together. Rachel said she was thankful because she felt like she had acquired a whole family via their relationship.
Rachel is being hailed as a “Young Hero” by many.
The valiant efforts that Rachel put forth were not lost on anybody and were not overlooked. A great number of individuals who saw their donor-recipient encounter considered her to be a young hero and found their narrative to be incredibly motivating.
Andy Talley, who later established the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation, was one of these individuals. He saw Rachel’s encounter with Jacob and his family, and he was there.
“What an experience it was to watch a lifesaver in person demonstrating to the world how to give back to the community. Donating bone marrow is equivalent to giving the gift of life, and Rachel is a hero for doing so.
