I often wonder how Margot’s donor feels about his experience of donating bone marrow.
I’m curious. And not just about the specifics relating to the harvest of his bone marrow, but also the back story: of initially joining the register and his reasons for doing so, the subsequent contact from the registry to tell him that he was a match and his progression on to confirmatory typing, work up and medical.
I also ponder the practicalities and the accompanied feelings & emotions that must be triggered during the process and how they might crescendo and diminish as donation day nears, arrives and then passes.
In spite of never having met him and knowing very little about Margot’s donor, I nevertheless know how I feel about this selfless & benevolent gentleman.
Hopefully, that goes some way to explain why I would love to donate my stem cells or bone marrow.
Unfortunately, Anthony Nolan tells us that on average, there’s only a 1 in 1,200 chance of being matched with a patient in need, so in that sense, being matched is unlikely to happen, but if it does it’ll probably feel like winning the lottery !
In the meantime, I make do with the quiet glow of self-satisfaction that comes from being a registered organ donor and from my regular blood donations.
The point is that not everyone is eligible to donate, so we can’t ALL get to experience that emotion, however we CAN all still feel good about ourselves for doing our bit.
Ultimately, one of our goals is for people to feel good about and enjoy sharing & spreading the word, in the knowledge that their conversations and their word of mouth will have a positive & lasting social impact, with beneficial knock-on effects AND perhaps even life saving outcomes.
Because if people enjoy telling someone, one-on-one or in groups, in their own time and in their own way, then they will go on to repeat that action, again and again.
It can happen ! And it could be YOU that makes all the difference.
So the next time a new opportunity arises or there’s a lull in conversation, have a chat about Margot & see how that makes you feel.