Finding the right gift for Father’s Day can be difficult. A lot of dads never seem to ask for anything, and the “no tie” rule has been in for a few years now. What happens, though, when the one thing your dad wants is unavailable on Amazon, or in the Apple Store, or even in the United States? What happens when the only thing he needs is a fully matched bone marrow transplant donor for his eight-year-old daughter?
One family is about to find out.
Brian has been looking for a donor for his daughter Galia. While both he and his son Ethan are partial matches, her best chance of beating acute myeloid leukemia is an unrelated full match – a stranger, a good Samaritan.
There are currently 26,000,000 people on the bone marrow registry worldwide. Only one is a full match for Galia.
On Friday, an anonymous European man donated his bone marrow. On Father’s Day weekend, hope will fly across the Atlantic, and Brian will get the gift he has been praying for.
Brian, mom Valla, Ethan, and Galia have temporarily transplanted themselves 400 miles from their Nevada home to Tucson, where they instantly connected with Banner University Medical Center Tucson’s Dr. Emmanuel Katsanis, a world leader in bone marrow transplants. They chose Tucson over other large Southwestern metropolitan areas because they believed they could get the best medical care and could remain close to family. Since April, they have made their home at the Ronald McDonald House. Valla wrote in her Caring Bridge blog:
We appreciate the Ronald McDonald House (Tucson) – it is a blessing for our family…It is a beautiful facility. Different groups come in a cook meals for families. There are leftovers in the refrigerator. In fact, last night Ethan and I ate left-over tamales. Yum!!! Tonight, Ethan had waffles for dinner. We both ate brownies. It is nice and quiet – yet there are kid friendly activities available. This morning, Ethan couldn’t wait to sink some baskets into the basketball net! They have free clothes detergent and a free laundry facility available. It is truly a blessing to have something like this available to us. Did I mention the beds are [Tempurpedic] beds? Wow, very, very comfortable! We are extremely grateful.
Brian recently described why the RMH has been such an important base for the family:
You don’t know what you’re going to need until it happens. It’s not until the 2’ x 4’ hits you over the head when you’re buried in blood reports and dealing with your kid’s cancer every day, when you start to think, ‘Oh wait, where am I going to stay? Oh wait, I need someone to watch my son.’ We didn’t know what the Ronald McDonald House was. The hospital set it all up and it has been very easy. Sometimes we even take it for granted that, for two months, every day we’re going back to the Ronald McDonald House. It’s only 10 minutes up the road from the hospital, and you can’t beat that.
On this Father’s Day, we’re wishing for Brian a full recovery for Galia, and for the fathers in your life, we’re wishing love, peace, and family.
Happy Father’s Day.
