27 years ago today is the most memorable day of my childhood. No it was not my first trip to Disneyland...no it was not attending my first ballgame...it was the day I lost my brother. Out of every memory I have in my life, that one is the most vivid. I can remember every little detail of that day. I can visualize my entire family crammed into that tiny room. I can feel my Tias hand resting on my shoulder. That day forever changed my life. Recently my timeline was swamped with the ALS ice bucket challenge, and I thought to myself, if only I could come up with something like that for aplastic anemia. So after much thought I have decided to challenge all of my family and friends to do more than just dump water on your head...I challenge each of you that are healthy enough to donate blood and/or register yourself on the bone marrow transplant registration list. My brothers life couldve been saved if we found a bone marrow match for him. I was his best hope, but I failed him. Back then, technology wasnt advanced enough to find him a donor. Because of this his young life was cut short. You could be the match for another child, you could be that hero. I myself am still not able to be a bone marrow donor because of my own medical conditions, therefore I do the next best thing...I donate my blood. People tell me theyre afraid of needles and scared that it will hurt. I tell them that I dont like needles either, but if my brother at five years old could endure the pain that he went through, then I can endure a needle stick every few months. For those of you that are still not capable of doing either of these, then there is one more option...you can make a donation to the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation at aamds.org in his honor. Im not one to ask a lot out of my family and friends, but this is something that means a lot to me. Please help make a difference and as the Houchin Blood Bank motto says...people live because people give.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 14:31:07 +0000
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