This month, the journey to wellness for one Hodgkin’s patient will illustrate just how small our world has become in the information age, and prove that the fight against lymphoma knows no borders.
Lori Montgomery, an instructor at Pratt Community College (PCC) in Kansas, will undergo a life-saving allogeneic stem cell transplant at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on January 22. Yet the stem cells are not coming from family, friends, or colleagues, as none of the many people tested were a match.
Rather, thanks to the Bone Marrow Foundation, a perfect match was found thousands of miles away, in an unnamed donor from Germany.
According to
an article in the Pratt Tribune the procedure will keep Mrs. Montgomery in Nebraska for over three months, but once again, distance and borders will be overcome despite her lymphoma, as she will continue to teach classes at PCC via webcam.
Our best wishes go out to Mrs. Montgomery, and to the unnamed individual living in Germany whose decision to donate stem cells will make the difference between life and death.
We all stand to make that remarkable difference in the life of another person. Check out the National Marrow Donor Program at www.marrow.org or the Bone Marrow Foundation at www.bonemarrow.org to see if you’ve got what it takes to join the global registry.
