The blood drive finished with 99 donations...46 of these coming from first time donors!! Through Mike’s time spent on the oncology ward he has become all too familiar with the great need of blood donations in saving people’s lives every day. In addition, the attending bone marrow matching representative was extremely surprised by the high number of people volunteering for matching. The incredible part was that she actually ran out of swab kits…something that had never happened to her before! We are so appreciative and proud of everyone that helped to make this day such a victory. We feel extremely blessed to have the ability to bring in the amount of donations we did on Saturday.
We would especially like to acknowledge Megan and Sean Aylward for organizing and managing the overall event. Megan’s determination in getting the word out for this event ensured that people from all over found out about the drive. Without her publicity the day would not have been such a success.
As you know Mike went into the hospital on April 23rd. He had five days of consolidated chemo and then came home Saturday afternoon. After making a brief stop at the blood drive he went home for a well-deserved rest. Since then he has been taking it easy and keeping himself as germ-free as possible as his cell counts drop. Mike is doing well, eating as much as he can to keep up his strength, and enjoying the time with his family. Around mid-June he will go to Sloane-Kettering for the stem cell transplant.
Once again thank you all for your prayers, positive thoughts, and love. We couldn’t get through all this without you.
Tina
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteI am praying for you. I attended the blood/bone marrow event at St Elizabeth's on April 28th and was hoping to see you. The bone marrow nurse was not there in the morning and I couldn't wait to long because Steven's girls, Emily and Zoe were being baptized that morning. I hope there is a match, I still wish to be tested so if there is another time or place I can be tested, please post it on your site.
Love and regards, Laura Taenzer
Hi Mike,
ReplyDeleteHope you’re doing well.
A week or so after I did the swab at Saint E’s I got a call from a woman at the donor program about a piece of missing information on my paperwork.
I was able to clear it up with her and she sent my information through.
When we finished the call knowing that I now could possibly really help someone made me feel great.
So I wanted to say thanks
Gene Petraglia
Happy Memorial Day...when we think about people who served others.
ReplyDeleteGene