The title of my blog is not really appropriate for this post, although my friend does fall into the Funny Feckers category normally. It is however a very important one that I simply have to write and I am hoping that people will read and share this far and wide.

I have a very close friend suffering from a rare form of non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (only AM could have a rare form of Lymphoma and an even rarer sub type). She is 35 with three children and lives in the rural town of Chinchilla around 4 hours away from Brisbane and treatment. She has spent the last 18 months mostly away from her family undergoing treatment, including a stem cell transplant.

She has been looked after superbly during this time by the Leukaemia Foundation with accommodation and transport provided for her and other regional patients who face months of treatment far from home.

 She is now in need of a Bone Marrow Transplant, but there are no matches on the Bone Marrow Registry for her.  My friend AM has four siblings all of whom have been tested, but none match. Two out of three people will not find a match amongst their siblings and need to use the registry.

The Bone Marrow Registry is something I was unaware existed. We all know about nominating to donate your organs, but what about Bone Marrow? But wait you say, it is a horrible procedure for the donor to undergo. Well now thanks to the advances in medicine, a Bone Marrow transplant is nothing to fear any more than any procedure under local anaesthetic and some people may feel slight discomfort over the days following the procedure.  While a stem cell donation may produce mild flu like symptoms. To register it is a mere blood test. Only 1 in every 1000 will be called upon to donate in any given year.

Initially I wanted to be able to be tested solely for my friends benefit. Then I stopped and thought about things and the fact that if it were one of my children I would hope there was someone out there was generous enough to have registered.  So I am in the process of joining the register, hindered in part that there is no Red Cross Blood Bank handy.

This is in fact the part where bureaucracy  seems to hinder the process and make what should be a simple blood test a complicated effort. For me to register my nearest blood bank is 4 hours away, with a 3 month waiting list for appointments. I do however have both Sullivan & Nicolaides and Qld Pathology nice and handy at only 20 minutes away, yet they are unable to perform the test for me as they are not authorised for want of a better explanation.

I sent off an email to the Bone Marrow Registry explaining the difficulties in getting to a Red Cross Blood Collection Centre, but how I really wanted to go on the registry, and received this response:

Unfortunately the only place you can join the ABMDR is at one of the Australian Red Cross Blood Collection Centres as anyone joining the registry must meet the blood bank criteria. There are also number that only the blood service has to identify potential bone marrow donors, as we do not use names for matching up patient and donors.

I can only suggest that you ring the 13 14 95 number to see if by some chance that donor centre sends a mobile unit out near wherever you live or if you go to the town/city where the blood centre is anytime you could join up then - you still need to ring 13 14 95 for an appointment.

Everyday new donor's typing is entered onto the database (which is worldwide) and compared with all patients in need so we have to hope that your friend finds a donor from this database.

To me this is simply not good enough. I have a friend who needs help and I know there are many out there who would help, especially if there was a much simpler process to register. She is also not alone, with many others waiting to find a potential donor to help them extend their time. Cancer is an insidious thing and I know it will touch many of us in some way. To me this is my way of being able to pay it forward, even if I am not a match for my friend, perhaps I can help another.

Please I urge everyone to take the time to consider what could be a donation that will save a life.

Below is a link to the ABMDR (Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry) website. Also a copy of my friend’s story from the Lymphoma newsletter.

http://www.abmdr.org.au/index.php?id=36

Welcome

Welcome to my blog! I have been inspired by some incredible agvocates (people promoting our rural industries and farmers) over the past  18 months and really wanted to help get the message out there…..Australian farmers are simply awesome.

Hopefully through my sharing opinions (of which I have plenty), photos, stories and news I may also be able to increase someone’s understanding of what happens in our little patch of rural Australia.

A brief background………….

I have always been a bush girl. Born and raised from a long line of country folk. In fact I have discovered that it seems farming has always been in our family’s blood when I recently started tracing back our family tree. No one famous, but lots of farmers, even from various corners of the UK where my ancestors originated.

One of my heroes is my Grandmother. She will be 103 this year and she is simply incredible. Add to her longevity the fact that she ran a 10,000 acre beef cattle (400 head of cows) property for 25 years all by herself.  Then there is her daughter, my mother who can drive any machinery and outwork many a man. Remarkable ladies.

As for me I am at home on the farm with my three young boys at present. My husband and I have a small rural property on which we grow crops, some for hay and other for grain. In addition we also operate a beef cattle feedlot and have a few other sidelines to keep things ticking over. It makes for a busy life, and some days I can honestly say it is not enjoyable, while others you wouldn’t trade it for the world.

This is my blog and from where it goes from here I have no idea but hope you will join me for the ride.