FLM Monday
On this rainy Monday, I wanted to share this hopeful article that I came upon a couple weeks ago.
It is the story of the 12 year old little girl, Laura Graves, who became the first person to receive a bone marrow transplant from a non related donor in the year 1979.
It does not have the happy ending of her surviving and being here to tell the story , however , the story is inspiring nonetheless.
Her family chose to find purpose from their grief and sorrow, and have helped thousands of people in the years that follow her death.
I can't imagine the fear they must have felt like to have been told you would be the first of any person to receive the cells of another human. But also at the same time , the hope. The hope in something miraculous.
We have felt this on many days. When you have such a rare cancer as Mike's, there are no baseline treatments. There is not much out there. But yet, we have not felt without hope. Dr.Kota is on the brink of all treatments and has been one step ahead of MIke's disease from the beginning. He leaves us with hope.
I think we live in the hope of future treatments that will be found in coming days and years, similar to the story here 40 years ago. But also in the hope that maybe Mike's story can also help someone else , like Laura did.
Laura's dad, Bob, was who started Be the Match.
"A national donor registry Bob started before he died now has a database of 19 million people. The organization, called Be The Match, facilitated more than 6,000 transplants in 2017."
It's an amazing story of how you can keep swimming through the unbelievably painful days of heartache. This inspires me. This gives me hope. This keeps me swimming. Other families do it. We can too.
It sucks. Cancer sucks. Suffering sucks. I would do anything to make Mike's suffering go away.
I am sure Laura's dad and family felt the same way. On rainy days like this , I would like to pull the covers over and stay in bed. My tears flow as hard as the rain.
But I can't. Mainly because I have three wild children who need to boss me around throughout the day and remind me of all the things I haven't don't yet .ha. But also these stories. These stories make me keep going. What if no one cared enough to start a registry. Or to share the word about bone marrow transplants.Or cared enough to sign up to be a donor.
Well Mike wouldn't be here.
So we share our story on this journey, And I share the Grave's story , so we can keep swimming through this ridiculous amount of rain together.
" For nature takes time, and most of our problems of will stem from impatience," Mark Nepo
Laura's dad and family didn't know , 40 years ago, the amount of lives they would come to impact. Nature took time. I am grateful they chose love amongst their grief. That they chose love to cure many more lives rather than drowning in their sorrow.
We must be patient. God is writing the story not us.
https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2018/09/27/fort-collins-blood-cancer-leukemia-bone-marrow-transplant/1379659002/
I am so grateful for the gift this family gave to our family and yet they have no idea.
Cancer has caused a lot of pain in our lives, yet I am grateful for the day dates Mike and I have received from the burden it brings.
This morning was another day date, that we would not have otherwise taken with each other.
Have a great week!
Lindsey
Share Love, That's all! LOVE ALL!
