Woman, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend... Just when I thought life could not get any better I heard a knock on my door, it was Cancer.
It changed everything but not for the worse. I choose Life and Hope .
BACK OFF CANCER is what I say!

The beginning of this journey...shaving my head

The beginning of this journey...shaving my head
Me, Francesca, on April 1st 2007, the day I shaved my head....

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Life coming full cirlce! Please go out and give blood!!!!


More than 10 years ago I worked with my friend Renee. We were an odd match. She was a 30 something suburban Mom and I was a 20 something Manhattan party girl. But we clicked and often we spent the early time of the morning chatting and learning about each others lives. We even went on a trip to Chicago that until today if I think about it, it makes me laugh. She has beautiful shoulders ( she will be happy that I said that! But she does, honestly!)
One morning Renee seemed upset and after asking she told me that she had promised a close friend of hers , whose brother had cancer, to go to the hospital and donate blood, platelets actually. But Renee's daughter had a cold and she was afraid she was coming down with something too and the hospital wouldn't risk it . I said: If they don't mind the blood of a stranger, I will go! And after a few phone calls, I was sitting at MSK and getting my blood pumped out, going through a machine to get the platelets out and putting it back in. I had been a donor before and did it after words but I definitely could have done more often!
My heart ached when I later learned that although he put up a big fight, my friends' friend and my "blood brother" had passed away. I never met him!

So. .why I am telling you this? Yesterday morning I felt great .. really good.. even dropped the yoga pants and was wearing something a little less "iamsickleavemealoneijustwanttobeconfortable" outfit. But after a blood test at the clinic, my counts were dangerously low, and they ordered a Blood transfusion , then I asked: can I call someone to come and donate for me, they said that i could for future times but they were really advising me to get blood from the bank as i was in serious risk of an infection/bacteria. ( i don't want that) . So after a lot of other tests , I received 2 bags of blood, from 2 good souls, that I never met. As I watched my body becoming a Vampire I couldn't help but think of my friend's friend and what a gift donating blood is , specially if it is not donor to donor.

SO THIS IS WHAT I NEED TO ASK: Many of you have been so wonderful in calling/emailing asking what you could do for me, this is what you can do: GO AND DONATE BLOOD TO YOUR LOCAL BANK!!!!! BUT PLEASE DO IT! Pretend that I called and said: can you come over and donate some blood to me.. it will be the same thing! I know you all think is the right thing to do but we just never, or just too seldom, come around to do it. There is an overwhelming need for blood out there, imagine if they didn't have blood for me??? Well they did and these 2 nameless stranger have just been added to my list of guardian angels.

I feel good and I am eager to get the PET scan on Thursday , I will keep you all posted , BUT PLEASE GO OUT AND DONATE BLOOD because unfortunately due to this stupid cancer , I will never be able to do it again!
For more information : www.givelife.org


much love
xoxoxoxo

5 comments:

Ana Stecca said...

Minha querida !
Muito legal vc incentivar a doação de sangue...é um gesto super simples e que ajuda a muitas pessoas, faço isso desde que descobri que meu tipo sanguineo é O negativo e que pessoas com esse tipo só podem receber de pessoas com o mesmo tipo..o bom é que podemos doar para todos !!!
Espero que vc esteja bem !!!
Saudades !
beijos

Unknown said...

Frannie, I love you. Keep it up!

Barb said...

I've been procrastinating going to CBS- Community blood services in Paramus for the last 3 weeks.

Thanks for the push!!

Keep the faith!
You're almost there...

Hugs
Barb

Unknown said...

Francesca-

Hi! I'm Kiersten, and I saw your post on CNN about Miles and wanted to check out your blog! Like Miles, I also had alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma, but I've been in remission since March.

During my 54 rounds of chemo, I needed tons of blood, and only 2 bags of platelets. But the message is still the same: PLEASE donate blood!!

Keep fighting, Francesca!! By the way, my carepage is called "kierstenscarepage" if you want to visit it!

Kiersten

Anonymous said...

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