An Everyday Hero

My sister is a hero.

Last summer, she made a trip to Calgary and spend an entire day donating her stem cell to a complete stranger.  She saved his life.

Because she had to come to Calgary for the procedure, my little family visited her and Joel at the hotel, and of course the boys wanted to go down the water slide.  To be perfectly honest, it was such a crazy water slide that the kids wouldn't go down it and I actually screamed when I went down the pitch (or pinch as Grady would say) black slide.  Both James and Joel fired out of the  slide and probably scared the kids out of going down!  My screaming didn't help either.

The day at the hospital ended up being longer than Blaire anticipated.  I learned that day that the amount of stem cell that a person needs to donate is dependent on the size of the person receiving it.  And for Blaire, her recipient needed a lot of stem cell.  We actually talked about who the person receiving it may be and we concluded it was a very large man :).

While many people probably imagine a large needle and lots of pain, Blaire describes the procedure as uncomfortable.  She was confined to the bed and had limited movement of her arms.  Joel was by her side all day getting her what she needed and even helping her use the washroom.  Was that TMI?

Sadly, Blaire and Joel have experienced loss first hand more than any young person should, certainly more than I had when I was their age, or even today.  They've lost several friends to Cancer.   A few year back Blaire was tested when a friend of Joel's family was looking for a match.  Sadly, Blaire was not a match for her, but she was contacted years later since her name and information remained in the data base.

One of their best friends also lost the battle to cancer after receiving a stem cell transplant.   So, when Blaire got the call she didn't hesitate in donating to a complete stranger in honor of her friend.

A year later, she got the chance to see what an impact she made on her recipients life.  It turned out that it was a man exactly her own age who received her stem cell and a year later, he is cancer free.  All because of Blaire.

The 'met' over email and facebook and he wrote such a touching tribute to her.  This was the caption he wrote to the photo above.

Everyone, this is Blaire. This is the woman who jumped at the chance to donate her stem cells/bone marrow to me so I didn't have to suffer from this terrible disease anymore. She quite literally saved my life, as if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be here right now. The blood that flows through our body is 1 in the same. Her husband Joel, a pro hockey player, is on the right. I cannot wait to meet her sometime later this year and personally thank her for all she has done for me and Heather. She is forever my living angel.

This single post generated over 1300 likes over 100 shares.  Her decision to donate had an impact on so many more people than just the recipient, but also his family and his friends.  He is alive today because of my sister.   I am so proud of her and Joel and know that Al would be to.

There was recently an article in the herald about Blaire's story should you want to read it. With so much negativity in the news these days I am so glad they chose to publish a story showing that there are still heroes out there.

Blaire, you are a hero and inspire us all to be better people.