“It’d be like winning the lottery!”

[Originally published @thesunrising on July 28, 2007]
Quick post with a story that gives me hope and happiness. A friend of mine organized some very successful marrow donor registration drives over the past couple of days. At one of them, she was having a conversation with another friend about how amazing and wonderful it would be to match and be able to save someone’s life simply by giving up a few hours of time and some extra blood cells. But, as a South Asian, she knows the odds of being a lucky donor are reeeally low; after all, patients face a 1 in 20k chance of matching. “It’d be like winning the lottery!” she said.
Fast forward a few hours later, after the registration drive, when she finally has a minute to check voice messages. One is from the National Marrow Donor Program organization, and it starts out thanking her for setting up the drive. And for registered herself 11 years earlier. And oh by the way, she may be a match for a 36 year old Leukemia patient (not Vinay or Sameer) so can she please schedule time in the next few days for follow-up tests. To see if she won the lottery :)
Chica, you’re amazing.

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