"Hope For Marrow" by Cathy LaMarre

I have been a member of a Relay team for 2 years now, primarily because my Grandmother died of cancer and an uncle and a cousin have cancer. A few weeks after the 2001 Relay, my sister called me to tell me my 4 year old niece Samantha was sick. And then in early July, she was diagnosed with leukemia. At 1st they said it was ALL (the common childhood leukemia that is 80% curable). She started chemo immediately. I can honestly say I have never cried so hard for so long in my entire life. I went to Winston every night after work to visit Samantha in the hospital. I will never forget the next Tuesday night when I arrived. My sister was in the hall with lots of doctors and nurses and they were all in tears. She took me through a set of doors and told me that Sam had a rare form of leukemia and she only had a 20% chance of survival. Her only chance may be a bone marrow transplant. They would test her 3 year old brother Matthew to be her best chance at a match. My sister and I just hugged each other and cried so hard very briefly. My sister was rock solid for her little one and refused to cry in front of her. Then came the fateful news that no family member was a match. I was not going to stand by and watch my niece die, so I decided to search for that needle in a haystack. I started learning about bone marrow drives. I coordinated the largest bone marrow drive the state of NC had seen since the early 90's. It was so very touching and quite emotional. I failed however, we found no match for Sam. She continued chemo to keep her in remission while waiting for a life-saving match. The news came in October 2001 that they found a cord blood stem cell match that was actually a 4 out of 6 match. Parents in NY donated their son's umbilical cord after he was born. It was packed with pure stem cells. Sam's new life started Nov 14, 2001 with her life-saving transplant. What a horrendous process to go through however. Samantha never stopped smiling, dancing and singing. She still has her central line in, she still takes medication to treat graft vs host disease, she is still in isolation with no immune system but Sam is still alive. I am not sure what plans God has for Samantha, but they must be big. Miracles happen. I thank God each day for all the folks who helped us believe in our little miracle and I thank Him each day for another day with my precious little niece.