Be The Match
This month’s article highlights one of the many ways individuals can make a difference in the world. What better way to help someone than to literally give them a piece of your body in an effort to save them? Most of us know that donating blood can help save lives, but did you know you can also donate your stem cells?
Recently, one of Oakland’s residents, Daniela Baumann donated her stem cells through an organization called Be the Match to a stranger to help in his recovery from Acute Myeloid Leukemia. We asked Daniela to share her story and what led her to this decision.
What made you sign up for the Be the Match registry?
“I don’t have a defining event that made me sign up. It was just something I always wanted to do. Twenty-nine years ago I made the decision to sign up.”
That’s a long time to wait.
Daniela went on to explain, “My coordinator said that she had never worked with someone who was on the registry as long as I was. I was surprised to hear from Be the Match as so much time had gone by, I almost forgot I was on the registry. I had long ago thought I would never be matched. In fact, when I received the email from them, I thought it was a spam email and googled it first to ensure that it was a legitimate phone number.”
Through interviewing Daniela and learning about becoming a donor we learned that you remain on the registry until your 61st birthday unless you opt out or have a change in health.
Continuing on with the interview, we asked Daniela about the donation process.
“It was a great experience. Be the Match was so supportive and caring the entire time. My recipient’s doctors requested a PBSC (peripheral blood stem cell) donation, rather than a bone marrow donation. It was similar to a blood donation except that the blood was taken out of one arm, sent through a machine and then put back in my other arm. The entire procedure took 3 hours.”
We went on to ask Daniela, where she went for the donation.
She informed us that she traveled to the Seattle donation center! She shared that, “It was such a great experience. I was encouraged to bring a companion on the trip. We were able to do some sightseeing while there.” She further shared that she would do it again in a heartbeat!
Out of curiosity we asked if the company allows a donor to be able to meet their recipient.
Daniela informed us, “In my case, because he lives in a country that allows us to know each other, yes, I might be able to. For the first year, we can only communicate anonymously through Be the Match. After a year, if we both agree, we can exchange our contact information and take it from there.”
We asked Daniela if she had any final thoughts.
“My wish is that as a result of my donation that my recipient is now able to live a long healthy life. Additionally, I would love to spread the word on this nonprofit organization so that people will register for, donate to, or volunteer for Be the Match,” Daniela stated.
Through our research we discovered that Be the Match is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping individuals get lifesaving transplants as well as performing research and developing new technologies to combat life threatening blood cancers. Not everyone is eligible to be a donor but if you are interested in obtaining more information on how you can possibly help save lives, please go to https://my.bethematch.org/bdsaves.