Venatoris
Active Member
I was reading the Calgary Herald this morning and I found an article about a seven year old local boy who needs a bone marrow transplant. No member of his family is a proper match nor any of the 300 000 registered bone marrow donors in the Calgary area.
A clinic has been set up in the far S.E. for swab tests to see if anyone is a match to save this boys life. It is a very simple mouth swab to determine compatibility(from what the article says) for bone marrow donation and I would not have a problem with submitting to the test or the potential bone marrow transplant to save this boy but I don't have a car and I wasn't able to get to the specific clinic between the hours of 1 and 6 pm(I live and work in the Northwest and work till 5:15 everyday).
I have 4 walk-in clinics(fully capable of performing this test) within 5 km of my home that I can get to at a moments notice but to save a boys life I have to traverse the city on the bus within 45 minutes of when I get off work(impossible with Calgary transit) to register as a bone marrow donor. I am a universal blood donor(doesn't guarantee a match) and I am willing to endure the painful procedure of donating bone marrow. I don't think I'm the only one who would be willing to waste 20 minutes on the off chance of being able to save a persons life but the way this has been set up, very few people will be able to get to the specific clinic in the few hours specified.
I did register as a bone marrow donor(I am already an organ donor) today after I got home from work but I don't think that it will be enough even if I'm a match for this young boy. I have witnessed the inability of medical clinics in my city to take care of one individual with the foreknowledge of how to fix their problem, and that doesn't take into account the time it will take to match two random people together to save a young boys life.
What do you think? Is my anger warranted? Will my city be able to test my swab and connect it with this young boy(if it is a match) and contact me before it's too late?
A clinic has been set up in the far S.E. for swab tests to see if anyone is a match to save this boys life. It is a very simple mouth swab to determine compatibility(from what the article says) for bone marrow donation and I would not have a problem with submitting to the test or the potential bone marrow transplant to save this boy but I don't have a car and I wasn't able to get to the specific clinic between the hours of 1 and 6 pm(I live and work in the Northwest and work till 5:15 everyday).
I have 4 walk-in clinics(fully capable of performing this test) within 5 km of my home that I can get to at a moments notice but to save a boys life I have to traverse the city on the bus within 45 minutes of when I get off work(impossible with Calgary transit) to register as a bone marrow donor. I am a universal blood donor(doesn't guarantee a match) and I am willing to endure the painful procedure of donating bone marrow. I don't think I'm the only one who would be willing to waste 20 minutes on the off chance of being able to save a persons life but the way this has been set up, very few people will be able to get to the specific clinic in the few hours specified.
I did register as a bone marrow donor(I am already an organ donor) today after I got home from work but I don't think that it will be enough even if I'm a match for this young boy. I have witnessed the inability of medical clinics in my city to take care of one individual with the foreknowledge of how to fix their problem, and that doesn't take into account the time it will take to match two random people together to save a young boys life.
What do you think? Is my anger warranted? Will my city be able to test my swab and connect it with this young boy(if it is a match) and contact me before it's too late?