Pennies from Heaven

One year ago today, my friend, Penny Lindenberg died.  She had leukemia. She left a husband and two young daughters.

She was only 37 years old.

A few potential bone marrow donors were found, but for reasons we don't know, they backed out.  She didn't get what she needed in time to give her a chance.

Please talk to people from DKMS about how to become a dedicated marrow donor.  FAQ's are here- http://www.dkmsamericas.org/faq.  The process of being a donor, if you are ever called, is not as difficult as movies make it out to be, or as scary. 70-80 percent of the time, donors are NOT asked to have any surgery- the transplant team uses a blood transfer system that is a lot like donating platelets.    DKMS will ship you a test kit- it is a simple cheek swab.

For more information on that, contact http://www.dkmsamericas.org/.

Bone marrow donors are not like blood donors- there has to be almost an exact match on many levels for bone marrow- therefore ancestry and ethnicity matter.  YOU could be someone's only chance for a chance. 

Thank you- Holly