#marrowdonation

A tribute to the life and legacy of former Be The Match board member, Dr. Rex Crawley. Dr. Crawley used his personal battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to he...

Makeba Kichelle, a model from Atlanta, GA, shares her thoughts on the #Essentials campaign, bone marrow donation in the African American community and encourages others to get involved. Hear more from Makeba here >>

Read more about Joshua's story.

Did I ever tell you that I donated my bone marrow?  It was to a kid that I did not know.  He was 9 years old at the time.  After the procedure, I felt that he was kind of like family—that we shared dna and that he was a part of me even though I hadn’t met him.  I never got to meet him because the marrow program has a one year mandatory no-meet policy, and I only bought him 6 more months with his family before he passed away.  It broke my heart in a very personal way.  But I know that there is no question that given the exact same circumstances and the exact same results, I’d do it again.  I keep trying to define what my cutoff point is for how much more life the kid would have to receive in order to make it worth my effort if I had the choice to do it again.  It keeps coming down to 15-20 minutes, depending on how I’m feeling at the time.  That’s what I think all of that stress and pain and risk is worth: 15-20 minutes of additional time for someone to spend with the ones they love.  I now see it as a tragedy worth grieving if I waste even a quarter of an hour not actively loving.