Nadia the beefeater

As you can imagine, we were caught quite off-guard with our daughter’s diagnosis, and life has been very hectic since. Having been a blood donor for the past year, I was very surprised to learn about Canadian Blood Services’ OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network. I had never heard of this program and would have volunteered long before learning my daughter needs a bone marrow stem cell transplant. Our friends were equally surprised.

I think more people would volunteer to be bone marrow stem cell donors if they only knew this program existed. We are hoping our family’s experience will help raise awareness. With the help of some great friends, we have started nadiasquest.ca and a facebook page. The process is simple, you fill out an online form on the OneMatch website, they send you a swab kit, and you mail it back. Like my brother said, “The hardest part was remembering to do the swabs 30 mins after eating.”

I will soon post some correspondence we sent to family when Nadia started her quest. Back when life was normal and our daughter bruised easily, but we did not know any better. Back before we knew our daughter was in bone marrow failure. Back before I thought telomeres were only of concern to vain baby boomers. Back before we were able to spell, and never even heard of, dyskeratosis congenita. It seems so long ago.

But before I do, lets start on a lighter note. Here is a video of our bruised beefeater that delighted us all.

http://youtu.be/3H0wge4O67Y