Amos has just come up on his first "bone marrow birthday". That basically means that a year ago Amos received the gift of life from a donor. In our particular situation, that was a woman that decided to donate the umbilical cord that connected her and her newborn son. My wife, Christine, recently sat down and wrote this open letter to her while we sat in a surgery waiting room as Amos was undergoing a procedure to test his new bone marrow now as part of the battery of tests that are included in his "one-year work-up" to make sure everything looks good, he is still in remission, and still going strong:
To the mother who helped save my son’s life:
You don’t know me, and for that matter, I don’t know you.
From what I understand, we’ll never know each other. But, that doesn’t mean I
can’t write this open letter of thanks to you in hopes that someday it makes
its way to you, or to the many other mothers that have done the same thing as
you. You might be wondering what you did, so let me start from the beginning…
My husband and I took our son, Amos, to the doctor on July
11, 2014. We were sent directly to Primary Children’s Medical Center in Salt
Lake City and were admitted that night. Throughout the course of the next two
weeks, our son underwent numerous tests to determine what was going on. On July
29, 2014, our then 10-month old son was diagnosed with Acute Monoblastic
Leukemia and started his first round of chemo that same day. Shortly after he
recovered from his first round of chemo, the doctors determined he would need a
bone marrow transplant.
Fast forward through rounds two and three of chemo and that
brings us to Thanksgiving Day 2014. We were all prepared to head back to the
hospital on Black Friday to begin the transplant process. Literally, as we were
sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner, my cell phone rang. It was the bone
marrow doctor calling. My heart sank – a call this late in the game could not
be good. He said that our live donor had been disqualified. We could qualify
another live donor (there were 28 perfect matches in the donor bank), but doing
so would require another round of chemo due to the time it takes to qualify
donors.
Here’s where you come in. The doctor told us that there was
an umbilical cord unit available that was a nine out of ten match. Ordinarily,
they would be thrilled with a live donor that was a nine out of ten match. And,
because it was immediately available, Amos would not have to undergo an
additional round of chemo while a live donor was being qualified. As the doctor
suggested, we proceeded with the umbilical cord unit. On December 12, 2014, a
year ago today, Amos received his bone marrow transplant from the stem cells of
the umbilical cord you donated after the birth of your son in 2008.
On January 11, 2015, the transplant engrafted. Now, it is
your son’s blood that runs through my son’s veins. I’m not sure how you knew
about umbilical cord donation, especially seven years ago, but I’m so thankful
you did. I had no idea it was something that could be done until my son needed
help. What a blessing your foresight has had on our family. The transplant road
has been a difficult one. We have been to that place where one fully realizes
that tomorrow is not guaranteed. It is a very scary place. But, it makes you
thankful for each moment and tomorrow that you do have.
Every day he’s turning more and more into a typical toddler,
and we revel in it all. From his silly antics to his animated facial
expressions. We find ourselves in tears often, tears of joy, at the littlest
things – like when my husband sneezed the other day and Amos replied “bless you
Dada”. We realize how lucky we are to have one more tomorrow. One more chance
to see him smile and watch him grow. You are a big part of that.
We will be forever grateful to you. While there was no
guarantee that the umbilical cord you donated was ever going to be used, please
know that it was used to save the life of a wonderful little boy. And we will
do the best we can to make the most of it.
One forever grateful umbilical cord stem cell recipient’s mother,
Christine
^Christine and Amos snuggling at home. #HappyHealthyAmos
