Bailey's Stem Cell Transplant
Donation protected
One of my closest childhood friends, Rosella's youngest daughter, Bailey, is going through her second treatment for Aplastic Anemia (AA).
Over the past few years Rosella, Mackenzie (her oldest daughter) and Bailey have been quietly brave and independent as they've dealt with major life changes due to the procedures that Bailey has gone through. This second round has seen Bailey have to leave University and unable to work and her Mom who will be by her side the whole time also out of work. They will remain in Calgary for a few months at least as Bailey has to be close to her transplant team. Mackenzie is once again donating for her sister (stem cells this time) and there are travel, living and medical expenses to take into account. Bailey says it better than I ever could, here is her explanation of what is going on from her blog, "Stem Cells are Cute":
What Aplastic Anemia (AA) Is
So essentially, Aplastic Anemia (I will refer to this as AA now) is the deficiency of all types of blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets) due to failure of the bone marrow. In a normal adult, 30%-70% of the bone marrow is made up of blood stem cells. My blood stem cells, however, have mostly been replaced by fat cells.
AA is most common in teenagers and young adults but sometimes in the elderly as well. The cause for mine isn’t really known, but normally it is caused by chemical exposure, radiation, immune disease and heredity. Marie Curie actually died from AA after a career of working with radioactive substances! (This is exciting for me because I idolize her a little bit- she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize!) Elanor Roosevelt also died as a result of Aplastic Anemia. I have a personal suspicion that I have this from chemical exposure, (pesticides, herbicides, body care items, cleaners-if you actually read the ingredients for these things most of them are carcinogenic and toxic) but obviously I don’t have evidence to say that is the cause.
There are a few different treatments for AA but to avoid confusion I will only talk about the one I will be receiving this time. It will be an allogeneic stem cell transplant. Allogeneic only means the stem cells will be coming from someone else (Mackenzie-my sister) The process of this procedure is basically that I will be given conditioning chemotherapy to kill the rest of my stem cells, then Mackenzie’s stem cells (which will be taken from her just like blood is for a blood drive, with a few extra medications involved to boost her white blood cells) will be pumped into me through my central line (A tube that will be put into my chest to make transfusions easier). Hopefully from there, her stem cells will take and I will have a normal functioning body! But even if they do take I will be on many medications for a few months and will not be able to have a public life for a while. I don’t really care about that though, I just want to be able to go for runs again. I miss running.
Until I actually get my transplant and my counts start coming back I will be going to multiple work up appointments to check up on everything in my body before all of this other shit goes down. I will also be receiving blood and platelet transfusions in order to keep myself alive and functioning.
And here is where I tell you to donate blood and bone marrow! There is a ton of information on both of these things on the Canadian Blood Services website (https://www.blood.ca/en) If you sign up in the bone marrow registry you could seriously save someone’s life. I am so lucky that Mackenzie and I are a match because I may already be dead otherwise (For those that don’t know, I had a bone marrow transplant from her bone marrow cells 3 years ago). Also, blood donation is always needed for AA, surgery and cancer patients. I’m not saying you have to but I’m saying that I don’t understand why you don’t want to help people if you are eligible to donate. At least donate blood. Help me and help my fellow patients all going through similar things.
Please enjoy having your life because it really really is a good thing. Go help people or make someone happy. Or hang out with a dog. I don’t care but enjoy it.
Over the past few years Rosella, Mackenzie (her oldest daughter) and Bailey have been quietly brave and independent as they've dealt with major life changes due to the procedures that Bailey has gone through. This second round has seen Bailey have to leave University and unable to work and her Mom who will be by her side the whole time also out of work. They will remain in Calgary for a few months at least as Bailey has to be close to her transplant team. Mackenzie is once again donating for her sister (stem cells this time) and there are travel, living and medical expenses to take into account. Bailey says it better than I ever could, here is her explanation of what is going on from her blog, "Stem Cells are Cute":
What Aplastic Anemia (AA) Is
So essentially, Aplastic Anemia (I will refer to this as AA now) is the deficiency of all types of blood cells (red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets) due to failure of the bone marrow. In a normal adult, 30%-70% of the bone marrow is made up of blood stem cells. My blood stem cells, however, have mostly been replaced by fat cells.
AA is most common in teenagers and young adults but sometimes in the elderly as well. The cause for mine isn’t really known, but normally it is caused by chemical exposure, radiation, immune disease and heredity. Marie Curie actually died from AA after a career of working with radioactive substances! (This is exciting for me because I idolize her a little bit- she was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize!) Elanor Roosevelt also died as a result of Aplastic Anemia. I have a personal suspicion that I have this from chemical exposure, (pesticides, herbicides, body care items, cleaners-if you actually read the ingredients for these things most of them are carcinogenic and toxic) but obviously I don’t have evidence to say that is the cause.
There are a few different treatments for AA but to avoid confusion I will only talk about the one I will be receiving this time. It will be an allogeneic stem cell transplant. Allogeneic only means the stem cells will be coming from someone else (Mackenzie-my sister) The process of this procedure is basically that I will be given conditioning chemotherapy to kill the rest of my stem cells, then Mackenzie’s stem cells (which will be taken from her just like blood is for a blood drive, with a few extra medications involved to boost her white blood cells) will be pumped into me through my central line (A tube that will be put into my chest to make transfusions easier). Hopefully from there, her stem cells will take and I will have a normal functioning body! But even if they do take I will be on many medications for a few months and will not be able to have a public life for a while. I don’t really care about that though, I just want to be able to go for runs again. I miss running.
Until I actually get my transplant and my counts start coming back I will be going to multiple work up appointments to check up on everything in my body before all of this other shit goes down. I will also be receiving blood and platelet transfusions in order to keep myself alive and functioning.
And here is where I tell you to donate blood and bone marrow! There is a ton of information on both of these things on the Canadian Blood Services website (https://www.blood.ca/en) If you sign up in the bone marrow registry you could seriously save someone’s life. I am so lucky that Mackenzie and I are a match because I may already be dead otherwise (For those that don’t know, I had a bone marrow transplant from her bone marrow cells 3 years ago). Also, blood donation is always needed for AA, surgery and cancer patients. I’m not saying you have to but I’m saying that I don’t understand why you don’t want to help people if you are eligible to donate. At least donate blood. Help me and help my fellow patients all going through similar things.
Please enjoy having your life because it really really is a good thing. Go help people or make someone happy. Or hang out with a dog. I don’t care but enjoy it.
Organizer
Shannon Fair Smelt
Organizer
Sylvan Lake, AB
