Chantell Lombard, from Alberton, is married and the mom of 2 Jack Russels. She saw SABMR’S awareness campaigns and registered online as a bone marrow donor. She says, jokingly, that if she has anything that people can use, they should take it. She donates plasma every 2 weeks and is also signed up as an organ donor.
She registered as a bone marrow stem cell donor in 2019 and in 2020 received a call that she is was a potential match for a patient with a life-threatening illness. She was very sceptical about the timeframe between her registration and the news that she was a potential match for a patient. She was convinced that it was a scam, because she knows that some people are on the database for many years before being asked to donate, or they may never be asked at all. However, when reality kicked in, she was very excited by the thought of making a difference in someone’s life.
Chantell is one of very few rare donors who was asked to donate bone marrow. However, everyone around her was very supportive, even though she told them she is going to donate bone marrow, and not peripheral blood stem cells (bone marrow stem cells) which is harvested from your blood.
The whole process occurred during the COVID-period, so she was quite anxious that she might contract it and that it would negatively impact the patient. She says that she had 100s of questions and that these were patiently answered. Furthermore, that none of the tests or examinations caused any pain. She knew that all of it was necessary to ensure that she was in perfect health to be able to give the patient the best chance of recovery.
On the morning of the donation, in February 2021, she had to be at the hospital very early. Her husband unfortunately could not go into the hospital, due to COVID restrictions, but the staff at the hospital went out of their way to ensure that she was comfortable, felt reassured and supported. SABMR’s Clarice visited her at the hospital to support her and brought her a thoughtful gift, as well as a certificate to commemorate the donation.
After the procedure she was a bit groggy due to the anaesthesia and had minor discomfort at the incision site. She expected that the pain would be 8 / 10, and she was pleasantly surprised that it was only 2 / 10. She is grateful that everything went as planned and that even a bit more bone marrow than was required could be harvested, which would suffice if the patient needed another donation.
She says that their life is back to normal. She has a better understanding about the necessity of registering as a donor. Lives can be changed without a lot of exertion or discomfort. She tries her utmost to raise awareness and convince people to sign up as blood, organ, and bone marrow stem cell donors. She adds that you never know when you could be called up to help someone.
According to Chantell she had a very good experience with SABMR, from start to finish. She says that she is a “Nervous Nelly”, who had many questions and might have tested the staff’s patience. However, she always felt supported, all her questions were answered, and for every step of the journey SABMR was by her side.
She would like people to know that you do not lose anything by donating bone marrow stem cells, but somebody else could win many healthy years because you donated to them.
She now has contact with her recipient, Madison Nortjé, who is 9-years old, vibrant, happy and healthy due to Chantell’s decision to register as a bone marrow stem cell donor.