Five failed attempts

With Acute Myeloid Leukemia, the only hope for survival or a lengthened life, is with a bone marrow transplant.  Essentially all of the bone marrow in my dad's body would be killed and replaced by bone marrow from a donor.  Without a bone marrow transplant, my dad's chance of survival was 0%.  With the transplant, the chance jumped to 40%.  While not a super high percentage with the transplant, it was much higher than without.

Before even knowing for the process of donating, I talked extensively with John about donating my my bone marrow for my dad.  I imagined how special it would be to be a part in helping my dad's health return.  However, as time proceeded, we learned that children are often not a good source to obtain bone marrow.  The best option is to try to match a parent or sibling.  Where that was not possible for my dad, the hospital began comparing his bone marrow with the bone marrow database the hospital has.

Words can not express my overwhelming feeling of gratitude when I received the call from my mom about finding a donor.  The hospital found a 10 for 10 match!  Tears of joy streamed down my face.  A young lady in her early 20's was a perfect match and willing to go through the process of donating.  Donating bone marrow is a committed endeavor and is not easy.  My heart gained so much love and gratitude for someone I had never met.

The doctors wanted to get his leukemic cells down below a certain percentage to increase the success rate.  The first time the transplant was cancelled didn't phase me too much, although I was disappointed.  My dad was still in relatively good health and most do not receive the transplant on the first attempt.

Time and time again, the transplant was put off.  Sometimes because of high leukemic cell percentages, and sometimes because, having little to no immune system, he contracted an illness (usually more than one; ecoli, staph infections, pneumonia, etc).  The more the transplant was cancelled the more I questioned how much longer my dad's body could endure the process. 

The fifth and final attempt was eventually put off.  My heart was saddened because I knew my dad's time was now limited.  There were no other options of healing.

My parents and doctor all felt a lot of peace about the transplant not going through.  The doctor explained that once the transplant was done, the results were permanent.  There was no turning back.  Any complications that arose would be permanent.

I began to feel peace and once again grateful for the time that I had to spend with him.  I was glad that the transplant didn't take place, possibly cause organ failure, and our time with him be cut even shorter.  Throughout the entire journey, we felt of God's hand in our lives.