Day +365

Here we are, one year later.  This monumental anniversary stirs a lot of emotion and has had me reflecting on our journey through transplant.  Someday I'll really breakdown and cry for all that we've gone through but that will need to wait a while longer.  Today we celebrate Georgia and the incredible girl that she is. 
Next week we start our intensive testing, three days at the SCCA, one at Children's Bellevue and one at Children's Seattle.  We have completed one post transplant test, physical therapy - Georgia passed with flying colors.  In the words of the physical therapist "I haven't seen a child this strong in a very long time."

Most of my thoughts today have been about a young man in Germany, without him we would not be here.  German law states that you can't have information about the donor or recipient until two years post transplant but you can send communication as long as it doesn't include names, landmarks, etc.  I recently wrote him, my letter was passed through the donor centers in each country, he has the right to accept the correspondence or not - I hope he read it.

To our daughter's donor,

I have been sitting, starting at a blank page for several minutes now, having no idea how to begin a letter of gratitude for being a large part of the reason that my daughter is alive today. In just two weeks we will hit one year post transplant, that was the day we received the incredible gift you gave us, total strangers.

My daughter was 10 months old when she was diagnosed with two very rare types of leukemia, one of them only treatable by a bone marrow transplant. She had always been a very happy baby, full of love and personality, her diagnosis came as a total shock. We were in the hospital for several months but my daughter quickly became known for dancing and waving to everyone she saw.

Early in the process of searching for a donor I asked our doctors who they believed an ideal donor was, our daughter is an only child so the idea of a related donor was out. The doctors were quick to answer my question, a young male. Then one day last November we received a letter, they'd selected a donor, you. You were the answer to our prayers, you were the ideal donor in our doctors eyes and a 10 out of 10 match for our daughter.

I want you to know that through this journey you have been thought of often, we have been sending love and gratitude out in to the world hoping that in some way you would receive it. You have been a part of our Thanksgiving grace for the past two years and when I tuck my daughter in at night we give thanks for you.

I hope someday to be able to share pictures of our daughter with you - she recently turned two and is a happy, lively, loving little girl who captures the heart of everyone she meets. Until then, I want you to know that that I am still brought to tears by the selfless, generous, incredible gift that you gave to my baby girl - a stranger to you but my whole world. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for donating your bone marrow and for being a part of our daughters cure.

We hope this letter finds you well.

Much love from your recipient family