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All of my testing went very well and things looked very promising. I was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief when a date was set. I would become a donor on August 4, 2005. In preparation for my stem cell donation, I had to undergo five consecutive days of injections. The injections would mobilize (or multiply) my blood stem cells, so there would be an adequate number of cells for transplant to my recipient. I prayed hard and often that the injections would be successful and there would be more than enough cells to cure this man of his potentially fatal disease.
The process is fairly simple and relatively painless. The injections didn't hurt, but I did take a little Tylenol to help the minor aches and pains. I know my minor aches were nothing compared with the pain that the man that I was to be a donor for and his family had endured.
My stem cell collection was set for the early morning on Aug. 4, 2005. The day I had hoped and dreamed about had finally arrived. Here is how stem cell donation works: Your blood is removed through an IV line in one arm, just like a blood test. A special machine sorts out the life-saving stem cells and funnels them into a bag to be sent to the recipient. Then your blood, minus the stem cells taken out for transplant, is sent back into your body through an IV in the other arm. It felt just like getting a blood test, except in this case, you have to lie very still for several hours while the entire process takes place.
The transplant was behind us and I now had a new name for the man that until now I referred to as my recipient. I called him my "blood brother," and his wife became my "blood sister-in-law." NMDP guidelines dictated that we were not permitted to have direct correspondence for one year. I didn't even know if they shared the desire to have direct contact with me, so I would have to wait and see.
Fifteen months after I donated stem cells for my blood brother, my husband and I traveled to Minneapolis, Minn., where I met Jim Caygle and his wonderful wife, Pat. Our first meeting was at the NMDP council meeting, in front of approximately 1,200 people. I never dreamed that our meeting would be that exciting. I could have met Jim on a dirt road in the backwoods of Alabama, with not a single soul around but us, and I would have been just as excited. I did not need 1,200 people cheering for us, I only cared to meet him, and see for myself that my cells had done their job.
Since our meeting, we have kept in very close contact. Not more than a few days go by before Pat is calling with either an update on Jim or just to check in and see how we are doing. The Caygle family and the McVay family share something that will always make us feel like family, something we cannot quite explain, something that is in the blood.
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