OK… I hereby promise to never again make a blonde jokes.
Why? Because two blonde sisters, Sam and Alex Kimura, are definitely no joke. They are a powerhouse of promise for people waiting for bone marrow transplants.
And all of you oldster’s whining about Millennials acting entitled and being spoiled? Shut. Your. Mouths. These young women are a shining example of everything that’s good about Millennials.
Sam was just 17 years old when she was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a blood disorder in which the body’s bone marrow doesn’t make enough new blood cells.
A rare but serious disorder, severe aplastic anemia can be fatal if it’s not treated—and the most permanent treatments are blood and bone marrow stem cell transplants. The procedure replaces a persons damaged/abnormal stem cells with healthy ones donated by another person.
The problem? Finding donors!
Rather than wait around hoping for a donor to appear, Sam (then 22), her sister Alex (then 24), and good friend, Taylor, decided to go on the road in search of a match.
And that’s when they realized just how difficult finding bone marrow donors can be. But instead of giving up, the girls got inspired. They started a non-profit that they named S.A.M. (Sharing America’s Marrow), bought and outfitted a special van, and started driving their message and quest for donors all around the United States.
Wherever they go, they swab the cheeks of volunteers and register them into the US Bone Marrow Donor Registry, helping, as their slogan says, “turn regular people into heroes.”
To date, S.A.M. has registered more than 23,000 people and 257 people have found matches thanks to the team’s dedication and drive (pun intended!).
Check out Sharing America’s Marrow fabulous website here and turn YOURSELF into a hero today by registering to be a bone marrow donor!
