Someone far wiser than I (Buddha, maybe?) said, “The only constant in life is change.” From where I’m sitting right now, it’s hard to accept that statement as anything other than an absolute truth.
Less than 24 hours after sharing my last blog post, we got a call from Danny’s transplant coordinator. “The donor is unresponsive,” she said with mild trepidation.
What does that mean? Danny and I exchanged nervous glances.
The coordinator, Tomeka, went on to explain that Danny’s bone marrow donor called in sick for one of her scheduled appointments. Bone marrow donors go through a battery of tests to make sure they’re clear of infectious diseases and have an overall clean bill of health before they donate. Our donor had missed a critical appointment.
Things happen. People get sick. Right?
Tomeka shared that Danny’s donor had reportedly also stopped returning the donor coordinator’s calls. “Typically, when a donor ‘goes dark’ like that, it means they’ve changed their mind,” said Tomeka. She gave me and Danny a moment to process this.
Oh shit. We knew where this conversation was going.
Tomeka continued, “We need to move on to the backup donor, a 22-year-old male. He’s a 9 out of 10 mismatch, just like the previous donor. We will start reaching out to him right away.”
And just like that, our April 19 transplant date vanished. Maaaan, that David Bowie really knew what he was talking about!
We were disappointed, but we also prefer to believe that this happened for a reason. For example, it’s far better that the original donor went MIA now rather than on Day 0, transplant day.
Tomeka is now working her magic to re-align all the stars and planets so that Danny’s transplant is not delayed by more than a month or so. In the meantime, Danny will receive another round of consolidation chemo next week (Monday-Friday) to hold off those vile little cancer cells a bit longer.
I will update you again once we have some good news to share!
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