I have written about Erica before, in March, when she was searching for a bone marrow donor after having a relapse of leukemia which had been in remission for a year. I only know her peripherally, but we have many mutual friends, and have crossed paths for a long long time. She never found a perfect donor, but they went with an imperfect match, and she has been doing well with that and was leukemia free – until 20 days ago when she relapsed again. That led to more chemo. And today, more bad news. The chemo failed. I am feeling so sad.
Around Rosh Hashanah, my mom emailed asking “Who or what has inspired you in the past year?” My answer was Erica. Both in her personal strength and the way I have seen her inspire other people. She is a very special person, and I’m feeling reminded about how unfair life can be.
2 comments:
I am so sorry to hear about your friend. But I'm glad you posted this here--it reminded me that I have wanted to join the bone marrow registry ever since I was a teenager. So I went online tonight and joined the registry. So, maybe your note will have ripple effects.
Thanks, Laura. Erica actually inspired me to do so as well (about a year ago), but it was similarly something I had wanted to do since I was a teenager (when a school-mate died of Leukemia her senior year in High School). Actually, its been really amazing to see how many people Erica has gotten to join the registry. Hopefully that will help someone else down the line.
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