Back in June of 2011, shortly after the death of my father from cancer (and some really vile family drama because there was money involved, so life was really a mess), Twitter brought this to my attention: Alice's Bucket List.
Alice was a teen in the UK who was fighting terminal cancer. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, she had set up a website with a bucket list of things she wanted to accomplish in her short lifetime. They ran the gamut - things as simple as getting her hair done and getting a massage, entering her dog in a show, up to swimming with sharks and going to Kenya.
But there was one particular item on her list that had created a Twitter sensation: her wish to get people to join a bone marrow registry. Which is how I hooked up with Be the Match. It's incredibly simple. You register, they send you swabs, you swab in inside of your mouth and pop the swabs back in the mail. And you could end up helping save a life.
Sadly, Alice passed away in January of 2013, but she accomplished most of the items on her bucket list and was responsible for God knows how many people joining a bone marrow registry. It was a short life, but one well lived.
Joining was so easy that once it was done, I didn't really think about it much. I'm not the age or physical condition of what seems to be their ideal donor, but you never know. The reason I decided to post this now is because I occasionally get emails from Be the Match. The most recent one encouraged us to encourage others to join. So that's what I'm doing. If you're so inclined, think of it as your good deed for the day. A good deed that could some day save a life.
Here's the message they asked us to share:
I joined Be The Match Registry® because I know it means I could help give someone a second chance at life. Did you know that someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukemia every three minutes? For many of those patients, a marrow transplant is their only hope for survival.
That’s where we come in. There are so many people looking for a match, and you or I or someone we know could be the cure for a person who has blood cancer.
Who will you save? Joining Be The Match® can have powerful, life-giving results, and I encourage you to be part of it. Visit http://bit.ly/2tQO2PR today and join me on the registry!
My original post when I joined is here.
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