Day 28, Chemo Round 1 :: Be The Match

August 2013... Letting their lights shine!

Back in August, before school resumed, before there was a notion of relapse, I had a back-to-school celebration with the kids -- complete with chalkboard placemats, a school-lunch themed dinner,  a fun tablescape, and time to figure out our goals for the year ahead. Jaytoe's included writing in cursive and using the computer more for his schoolwork; Jade's were painting and writing her name.

As we ate our school-lunch themed dinner, we also talked about Matthew 5:16, what it meant for how we treat others, how we carry ourselves. We adopted it as our motto for the year. "Let your light shine before others that they may see your good works and praise your Father in Heaven." Notes in Lil Jay's lunch box were often signed with, "Let your light shine." Or when I greeted him after school, I would ask how brightly did his light shine that day.  Jade got into it too. "I'm shining my light," she would almost sing when passing something to her brother. "Is my light shining, Mommy?" she asked when drawing a picture for Daddy.

Jade's spirit is always shining -- even now -- and is undoubtedly helping her heal and be so playful and strong and brave throughout her treatment... and inspiring us along the way. Well, there is a chance that one of you who is reading the blog, or maybe someone you know, can help Jade's light shine even brighter or save the life of someone else's Jade .

We had the first of what will be several meetings with the bone marrow transplant team today.  We spoke in very general terms about what the rest of this course of treatment will look like. There is a long road ahead of us.  I will post more information about "The Talk" in the days to come, but if you read nothing else, please read this.

Jade's cure is dependent on her receiving a transplant from, in all likelihood, an unrelated, adult bone marrow donor.  Because Jade is so beautifully and uniquely made, there are presently only a few potential donors in the registry who meet preliminary match criteria for Jade; the team is in the process of reaching out to them and calling them in for more detailed testing to determine if they are in fact a good match.  At this point, the doctors are not very optimistic about these potential donors being the match for Jade and are also exploring potential options for a donation of cord blood for the transplant. If you are not registered with Be The Match / National Marrow Donor Program, if you haven't had your cheek swabbed, please visit www.bethematch.org as soon as you can to get registered.

If all goes according to plan -- meaning the chemotherapy is able to rid Jade's bone marrow of the leukemia, Jade doesn't get an infection or experience any of the more serious side effects of the treatment, and a suitable match is identified -- Jade's transplant process could begin as early as June.

Thank you for visiting Be The Match and signing up. Thank you for all of your prayers and your encouragement.

http://www.bethematch.org