My bathroom is magic. More specifically, it contains magic. This magic is held within the cotton swab container. This container spontaneously refills itself every time it nears emptying out. I am grateful for this because the swabs themselves are magic. When I was a child, the doctor said not to stick anything smaller than my elbow in my ear. I didn’t really get that because my elbow won’t fit into my ear. Besides, when you stick a swab in there, it magically makes you hear better.
See, cotton swabs are magic. And not just in my house. Cotton swabs save lives, yo. Consider this: Josh was only 9 years old when he found out he had leukemia. Being over four times Josh’s age, I don’t totally get how you can have blood cancer. Cancer is like tumors and stuff and blood doesn’t grow tumors. Obvs, I’m no doctor. Neither was Josh, so you can imagine that he might have freaked.
Chemo, steroids, radiation, etc. Further freakage. But hey, the cancer’s gone! But hey, it’s not! So back in for more treatments, but the only real hope is in a bone marrow donation. (More doctory stuff would explain why this works, but I think I’ve made clear that I not a doctor, Jim.) The good news is, this is highly effective. The bad news is that matching up a person who needs a bone marrow transplant with a willing donor who’s tissues and stuff match is statistically difficult for two reasons.
One is genetics and shit. The other is that not enough people are registered with the group that matches patients in need of a donor to people willing to donate. That group is called DKMS and I bet you can’t guess how they get you registered.
No, really, go ahead and guess.
Right! A cotton swab. Specifically, by swabbing the inside of your cheek to build a profile of the markers they need to match you to a patient. A patient like Josh. Want to see Josh again? Ok:
See, someone named Aaron got swabbed and then got matched to Josh and then Josh got a bone marrow donation and now he is doing pretty well. So Aaron was a life saver because he used a magic cotton swab. You can use a magic cotton swab too, if you come to CarePartners (on Sweeten Creek Road, just outside of Biltmore Village) on August 23rd. That day from 3 to 7 in the Seymour Auditorium there will be a donor drive (aka: mass swabbation). You could just show up, visit GetSwabbed.org, or call 277-4850 for more information.
