The Doner

THE DONOR

Breaking up from a 6-year relationship had not been easy for Janet. Her yearning for marriage and starting a family had long been a dream.

Her relationship with Tom had been splintering. They fought more often about the silliest of things and was told that she should see a shrink.

She started questioning herself as doubt flooded her mind. 'Maybe it's me.'

Janet lost her mother when she was sixteen, her younger brother died two years later after a hit and run accident. Geoff her elder brother had gone off to Europe to seek his fortune. She had lost contact with him when he moved to South America and did not hear from him again. He was angry and bitter with the losses they had experienced, telling her he would make a new start far away from the pain that gnawed at him.

Her neighbour Sally had been concerned about her as they talked often and she knew of her unhappiness. She had encouraged her to go jogging three times a week, do some gym and eventually got her off sucking nicotine out of twenty cigarettes a day.

Over the next few months, she had slimmed down and felt more positive about life with her heart not aching as much as it did.

Sally took her out to some of her favourite nightspots around town and introduced her to a few male friends. Some taking a keen interest in her, which made her feel wanted again. She was starting to enjoy her knew life.

The thought of breakfast made her shudder. The head cold she had been nursing for days would not let up. She had weighed herself earlier and noticed that she had lost three kilograms.

"Just run down. 'She thought.

A week later and not feeling any better she called her doctor's rooms. The receptionist told her she could squeeze her in that afternoon.

Doctor Jones went through the routine.

'Say aah! breathe deeply.'

The "puff-puff" sound of the blood pressure machine squeezing the heck out of her upper arm then the release sound of a tyre that had been punctured going flat.

I am going to need some of your blood, don't worry not all of it," he chuckled. 'When I get the results, I will call you.'

He handed her a prescription with the usual unintelligible writing. She glanced at it.

"Antibiotics. 'She queried. He smiled and nodded.

The following day Janet had just walked through her front door when her phone rang and saw that it was Doctor Jones calling.

Hi Doc, give me the good news."

"Sorry to tell you this on the phone, I have arranged for you to see an oncologist tomorrow. Your blood proteins show your white cells are increasing."

She felt her knees wobble and with that nearly dropping her phone.

"What does that mean, am I in trouble.?"

I am not sure at this stage, but we need to investigate further, so I have sent your results to Dr Swanepoel who is excellent in the work she does. She will be able to give you a better diagnosis.'

Janet felt sick at what she had heard, her mind raced as she lay on her bed in the dark, thoughts of her dying made her feel helpless. A big black cloud seemed to be enveloping her; she found it difficult to breathe. Needing to sleep she got up and swallowed a sleeping pill to take her away from the pounding in her brain.

‘’Janet, your blood tests are not good, I am sorry to tell you that you have acute leukemia.’’

She stared at Dr Swanepoel and lifted her hands to cover her ears, what she heard filled her with dread. Tears welled up in her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She wiped them with a crumpled tissue from her pocket.

"We are going to do our best for you; I am sure you have many questions.'

Janet stared at herself in the mirror, her bald head shining back at her. The hospital bathroom off her ward had a strong smell of disinfectant. Hours of chemotherapy had given her a heightened sense of smell, most odours made her wretch. This one was particularly bad.

She walked slowly back to her bed holding on tightly to her walker.

A nurse was waiting to take some blood and do all the necessary checkups.

"Your doctor is on her way to see you," she said. Without taken her eyes off the charts she was scribbling on.

Dr Swanepoel looked tired as she strode towards the bed.

‘’Hi there, I need to discuss something with you.’’

After quicky scanning the chart, she dismissed the nurse.

‘’You need a bone marrow transfusion; we are hoping to find a match on the worldwide bone marrow registry. I am sorry to tell you this but the months of chemo you have endured has not helped getting your leukemia under control.’’

Janet stared at Dr. Swanepoel blankly.

‘’Have we run out of options?"

‘’No, I will let you know as soon as I can when we find a match. Hang in there and keep fighting."

The days ticked by.

Janet was sipping down some water when she saw the smiling face of her doctor striding towards her bed.

"Good news we have a match young lady, the blood arrived this morning so we can do the transfusion soon.'

"Who is the donor.?"

‘’I am sorry that is confidential, but you can contact the donor after a year. I must warn you that once you have had the transfusion it is going to take a while before we know that it is successful.’’

"Well, I have come this far, when can you start.?"

‘’It's not that straight forward we are going to give you another round of chemotherapy to flatten your immune system and once that is achieved, we will give you the transfusion to rebuild your immunity once more."

Over the next ten months Janet felt her energy levels were so much better.

Her hair started growing which meant she could get rid of her well-worn wig. She was back working from home which her agency encouraged her to do. This helped her stay away from the office staff's coughs and colds.

There was a feeling of euphoria when Dr Swanepoel phoned her to say that they were over the moon with her recovery.

A year had passed when she contacted the bone marrow registry. Her yearning to say thank you to the person who had saved her life was strong and she needed closure.

A week had passed, she had just walked into her apart when her phone rang.

‘’Hello JaNet, it’s Janice here from the bone marrow registry, I am pleased to tell you we located your donor who lives in America. We are trying to get more clarity, but we would like to know if you still want to have contact?"

Janet's mind raced, wondering whose blood had she has pumping around her body. Suddenly the realization that she might meet this person became real.

"Give me a day or two to get my mind around this please, I will call you back.'

As Janet mulled over what she had heard, It wasn't necessary for her to call the registry back, they contacted her the next day with more information.

"Your donor joined the registry some years ago and is willing to fly out to South Africa to meet with you and make a holiday of the visit.’’

Janet felt her heart pounding and agreed at once.

"We will make the arrangements and let you know when and where you can meet up."

It was a warm sunny day when she and Janice who had arranged the meeting headed to the Cape Town Waterfront.

As they approached the front entrance of the hotel, she felt her body tense up. What would she say. She felt weak and trembled, was she doing the right thing she thought.

As She got out of the car her body froze, she could hardly believe her eyes when she saw him. Tears flooded down her cheeks, it had been 8 long years. Geoff was smiling when he put his arms around her waist and hugged her.

‘’Hello! my sister, it's been a long time, but I am home now.’’