I can distinctively remember swabbing my cheek at for Be The Match at a Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference in honor of a close friend's nephew who passed away from leukemia. That was in 2011, I believe. Fast forward to September 2017 and filling out paperwork for the process of finding out if Hadi had any bone marrow matches on the registry. I didn't want to think too much about it at that time because I was confident that the immunotherapy was going to work. Well, in October, Aamir and I were sat down and were told the immunotherapy was not going the way we had hoped and we should consider a bone marrow transplant. I am pretty sure I held my breath for a good minute (just like I did when the doctor first told me I was carrying twins). We were then told that Hadi had plenty of full unrelated matches. I made the doctor repeat that five times. So, we moved forward with a bone marrow transplant. My beautiful son handled chemo like a champ and I got pretty good at knowing exactly how to leap across the room to find a bucket for Hadi to throw up in (there is nothing like trying to figure out why your child's vomit is blue-kid ate far too many blue popsicles ). It was around this time that Hadi and I decided we needed to make sure other people also had bone marrow matches and the funding and research was there to make sure it happened. That is when we started our fundraising campaign. $1,000 was our goal. We are currently at $53,612. How amazing is that? We began doing some pretty awesome videos and I am so glad that I have those as memories of my incredible son who wanted to help others. His bone marrow transplants didn't take because it was his time to enjoy all the freaking sour candy he wants but it is my responsibility as his mother to continue his wish to help others. I was able to get Hadi's beautiful voice on many videos but I was crying too much when he quietly said he wanted to meet his bone marrow donor because she wanted to help him (I have a feeling they will eventually meet). Please sign up to be a bone marrow donor (particularly if your pigment is dark), donate to Hadi's page and purchase a Hadi's Crew shirt as some of the proceeds will go to Be The Match.
www.bethematchfoundation.org/goto/teamhadi
https://www.teamwatience.com/shop
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