Lizzie Bell: I’m thankful I found my cure, but not everyone is so fortunate

That might seem like a weird thing to say, considering I was born with a life-threatening blood disorder.

I’ve grown up knowing I might not get the chance to grow up at all. I’ve had to go through more blood transfusions than I can even remember — a transfusion just about every two weeks for 18 years.

So why do I feel like the luckiest person in the world? Why am I so thankful this Thanksgiving? Because I found my match. I found a total stranger with a matching genetic type who was willing to donate bone marrow to me.

In July, I traveled from my house in Tucson to Minnesota to get a bone marrow transplant. I’m still recovering here in Minneapolis (where it’s already super- cold !), and I’m doing well. I’m hopeful I can return home soon.

So here I am, a proud graduate of Salpointe Catholic High School who can’t wait to start college. For the first time in my life, my future looks bright and wide open. I’m making plans and setting goals, knowing there’s nothing stopping me from doing what I want to do. I absolutely feel blessed on this holiday meant for giving thanks.

But not everyone with blood cancer or a disorder like mine is so lucky. They need a bone marrow transplant, too. But they can’t find a matching donor.

Their doctors searched on the Be the Match Registry , which is a list of people who have signed up to donate marrow. The registry has millions of people on it, but it needs more people to join because that will increase the chances that people who need a transplant will find a donor.

There are many people with leukemia and other conditions who need our help. Every year, about 12,000 people in the United States get diagnosed with a disease that might require a marrow transplant for them to live, according to Be the Match.

Many of those people find a donor. But many don’t. In Arizona there are about 170 people who are looking for their match and can’t find one.

I want everyone to think about that. How would you feel if you or your child or your mom had blood cancer and you knew there was a possible cure out there somewhere, only you couldn’t find it?

This is why I’m doing all I can to tell everyone about the Be the Match Registry. Everyone should think about joining the registry or supporting Be the Match by giving money to help them add people to the registry.

Joining the registry is really easy. All it takes is filling out a form and then getting your cheek swabbed. If you’re called to give marrow, you get the chance to save someone’s life.

It’s especially important for racially diverse people to join the registry. That’s because not enough African-Americans, Asians and Hispanics have joined. So when a minority person needs a marrow transplant, he or she doesn’t have as good a chance at finding a donor.

That’s not fair at all. If more people join the registry, transplants will be available to more people who need them. That means saving more lives.

As one of the lucky ones, I’d like to urge everyone to work together to spread the good luck around. You can find out how to join the registry and help Be the Match at BeTheMatch.org

You can also visit the site to donate money to help Be the Match add people to the registry.

Once you join the registry, somewhere out there, a person in need will be thankful you did.