Hello, my lovely readers 🙂  I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying your families and the Christmas season.  This is the time of year when many people remember to stop and count their blessings, and being healthy and having healthy loved ones is a huge blessing.

For those of you don’t know her, you should stop by Lola’s blog.  Lola is an Army wife who could use our support.  She’s been in  hospital isolation for the last several weeks due to a very low white blood cell count.  Lola has recently learned that she has myelodysplastic syndrome.  I won’t go into all of the medical details, but what it boils down to is a long journey of chemo treatments, waiting for bone marrow matches, going through a bone marrow transplant, and trying to avoid infection and stay healthy throughout the process.

If you haven’t already done so, please register with the National Marrow Donor Program {in the States} or the Bone Marrow Donor Registry {in New Zealand}.  Joining is easy.  I know that in the States, all you have to do is fill out an online form and wait for your sample kit to arrive in the mail.  Once the kit arrives, you brush a cotton swab on the inside of you cheek and mail it back.  How simple is that?  In New Zealand, all you have to do is donate a unit of blood {not much at all} and be screened for viruses.  When you consider that it might save someone’s life, the amount of time and effort it takes to register seems inconsequential.  In New Zealand, there is a great need for donors of Pacific Island or Maori ancestry.

I hope that none of you ever have to face a serious health crisis.  I hope that your families and loved ones are all healthy and well.  And I hope that you’ll stop by Lola’s blog and leave some encouragement, as well as consider signing up for the bone marrow registry program in your country 🙂