Well, on May 31, I hosted a marrow donor registry drive for Be The Match. It went so well that in June, I was recruited to work as the Drive Attendant for Utah - a part-time position running donor recruitment and fundraising activities for Be The Match in Utah. Last month, I applied for a full-time Community Engagement Representative position to run the same activities for the organization in Utah, Idaho and Montana. On Thursday, September 25, I flew out to Portland, Oregon to have my final interview for the position. I nailed the interview and...
I GOT IT!
I began today, and I have to say that this is truly my dream job. I get to do something I'm completely passionate about and get paid for it. There are a lot of people in the world who never get that opportunity. I don't discount that fact. I recognize how truly blessed I have been to survive my cancer and come out happier and more blessed than I deserve on the other side. Now I get to work hard to build a team of Volunteer Ambassadors here in Utah, Idaho and Montana - people who are willing to help me recruit as many people to the Be The Match Registry as possible, and raise funds to help cover the costs of saving lives through marrow and stem cell transplant. Saving lives isn't cheap, so fundraising is a big part of what we do. If you know anyone who might be interested in getting involved, either on a one-time or more regular basis, please let me know.
In the past few months with Be The Match, I've had the privilege of meeting and working with some truly exceptional people. They all have their own individual reasons for wanting to work for or with Be The Match to fundraise and grow the registry. It's interesting. There are a lot of people who are benefitted by people or organizations in a life-changing way, and then say a simple "thank you" and go on their merry way. Then there are others who recognize the impact that person or organization has had on their lives, and seek ways to either pay back or pay forward that incredible gift. Those are the kind of people I get to work with on a daily basis. People with tremendously good hearts who value giving as much as (or more than) they value gifts.
It's like Christmas. Christmas has always been Noelle's favorite holiday. It was always my second favorite to Easter. Easter, I always held, is where Christmas gets its meaning. I mean, if it weren't for the Atonement of Jesus Christ, His magnificent birth would ultimately have been fruitless. But then I got sick. I began to see why Noelle loves - I mean LOVES - Christmas so much. People gave and gave and gave to the Philpott family with no thought or hope of retribution or even recognition. So many gave of themselves - time, talent, money, expressions of love and support, fasting, prayers - and asked nothing in return. Anonymous gifts of food left on the porch, money deposited in a bank account, or checks in the mail were commonplace. What could have been the two least fulfilling Christmases for the Philpotts to experience were the two most memorable and meaningful ones we could have ever imagined. And it's not because of the gifts...it's because of the giving. People were more interested in giving of themselves than anything else. Christmas brings out the best in people - not all people, but many. Now Christmas is my favorite holiday, too.
That's the kind of thing I get to witness in my work on a near-daily basis. A mother of two young children gives hours and hours of her time to plan and execute a donor drive and fundraising campaign in honor and memory of her sister who passed away while waiting for her marrow transplant. Why? Because she and her late sister talked about running a donor drive together down the road. The road ended for one, but the other carries on and gives of herself to make a difference and give hope to others who will make it to transplant. Another woman had the opportunity to be a marrow donor after being on the registry for years. She found the experience of saving a life to be so rewarding that she wants as many others as possible to share in that same experience. One of my "fellow fighters" against this jerk called Leukemia (she calls him "Luke") received one transplant with her brother's cells. It worked only for a couple months, then she relapsed. She went through transplant again, receiving a different brother's cells. So far so good this time around. Even though she never directly benefitted from the Be The Match Registry because she had two siblings who were matches for her, she recognizes that not all are that fortunate. She knows that some of her friends she's made in the BMT unit are only around today because of the Be The Match Registry, so she organized a drive and added nearly 90 people to the registry. A Boy Scout whose mother died of leukemia several years ago wants as many other people to experience the hope that a matched marrow donor provides, so he organized a donor recruitment drive in her memory, giving hours and hours of his busy teenage life to benefit others he will never meet and from whom he will never personally receive an expression of gratitude. It's the "spirit of Christmas" every single day. It's awesome.
So, yes, I'm working again. No, I'm not in sales as I had been for the 13 years prior to my having to leave work for my transplants last year. And though I may not earn as much money as I did at the height of my financial well-being in sales, I have never been happier professionally.
So, if anyone reading this is interested in doing something very, very rewarding with their time and energy, let me know and I can help you sponsor an event to recruit new potential marrow donors or raise funds to allow Be The Match to find donors for patients like me...or both.
And, of course, if you are between 18 and 44 years old and fairly healthy, please join the Be The Match Registry. You never know...YOU may be someone's cure.
