I’d like to tell you about how we met and fell in love before Valentine’s Day. My husband of 32 years, Roy, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia and required a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. But none of us were able to discover a suitable relative.
My husband needed a transplant to save his life, so we turned to the National Donor Registry. As a result of your thoughtful present, we will be able to spend Valentine’s Day and many more days together.
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To give back, I’m going to take part in a “virtual fly-in” to Congress at the end of the month.
The C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program has been able to provide life-saving transplants to patients like Roy because of the foresight of lawmakers like New Jersey’s Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) and Chris Smith (R-4).
This year, we’ll be lobbying Congress for extra funding to help more people get transplants. Our legislators can facilitate the earlier discovery of whether or not a patient has a lifesaving match in the registry.
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That knowledge will guide them in making the kind of decisions that provide couples everywhere the chance Roy and I did, namely, the chance to spend many more Valentine’s Days together.