Yolandi

I've been tweeting about various people I know who are ill and thought I ought to say something here about one of them in particular.

Yolandi is a work colleague who is almost at death's door. As it happens, this wonderful lady and I are also at the same church and in the same cell group. She has leukemia. When she was first diagnosed she was told that she had a mild form and could take oral chemo. A few months down the line, when she went in for a routine blood test, she was told that her cancer had gone to 'blast' stage (which is stage 3, I think) and that she would have to be admitted immediately. She first had a line put into her heart, since the chemo they planned to give her was so strong it would make her veins in her arms bleed. Then they started her on this intensive, 24-hr a day for 8 days regime. At the end of that, she had to have 3 blood transfusions.

The plan was that she would go home for 3 weeks, then repeat the cycle, until such time as a bone marrow donor could be found. (Thus far, none of her relatives are a match, and there is no suitable match on the bone marrow donor list in SA.) However, she was home for less than 24hrs when she contracted a bacterial infection in her blood and was immediately admitted to ICU. She has had another blood transfusion since being in ICU. She is not allowed to continue with the chemo until the infection has passed. She is also not allowed any visitors, to prevent further infection. She's been in ICU for more than week now, with only a very slight improvement in her condition.

Her husband is starting to think that the reality is that she is going to die. He wants to contact various hospices to get someone to come and talk to them both about that possibility.

Apart from the fact that she is such a lovely lady, what really upsets me is that she has 2 young girls - 8 and 10yrs old. No child should have to grow up without their mother, but particularly not kids that young.

If you're the praying type, please pray for Yolandi and her family. However, there is something that all of you can do - particularly if you live in SA: please go and be tested as a bone marrow donor. The cost is R300. All it involves is a blood test. The donation of bone marrow is also very straight forward these days. It basically involves taking some hormones the day before to make your bones release the stem cells they need, and then putting your blood through a dialysis machine to remove them. It doesn't involve the old invasive procedures of needles sucking stuff out of your bones. It's just a needle in each arm for your blood to be taken out and returned to your body. You will probably need to be in hospital for 2 days, because you will be at risk of getting an infection afterwards (low white blood cells count). If you want more info, then have a look at this site: The Sunflower Trust.

I hope and pray that a donor is found. I hope and pray that it isn't already too late for Yolandi if one is found.