TOP TEN REASONS why Knut is Crossing Michigan for Margy's Transplant

1. To call attention to Margy's enormous financial burden for her life-saving bone marrow transplant.
2. Because the trail markers along the Shore to Shore Trail are BLUE, Margy's favorite color.
3. Because like Margy's battle with cancer, crossing Michigan on foot in the winter is a long, tough journey that requires strength and endurance.
4. Because cross-country skiing the equivalent of 7 to 8 marathons is harder than running just one.
5. Because like so many of us, he loves Margy and will do anything to help her.
6. Because skiing uphill warms away the chill.
7. Because it's not fair to ask someone to come up with thousands and thousands of dollars for a vital transplant right when they're dealing with the difficulty of needing and receiving one.
8. Because crossing Pennsylvania instead would take forever.
9. Because both of her daughters are suitable bone marrow matches, so we can't let the costly expenses prevent her from receiving the proper treatment and recovery therapy.
10. Because if it was your Mom, you'd do everything you could to help her too.

Update On Margaret (Margy)

In searching for a suitable donor, it was found that my sister, Nancy, and both of my daughters, Aprille and Meredith, were half matches. In that Aprille volunteered to be my caregiver during the 2 to 3 month transplant process, Meredith was then chosen as the bone marrow donor.

Preparations were made to relocate to Baltimore for several months for the procedure. The transplant date was set for January 20th. Extensive tests were performed on Meredith and me the first week of January. The day before I was to begin pre-transplant treatment of chemotherapy and radiation, the final matching and mixing of our blood threw up a red flag. A rare situation occurred as a result of one or more of the blood transfusions received since October 2008. That is a white cell or two eeked through and I developed a B-cell antibody. This B-cell antibody makes the possibility of engraftment of the new marrow from Meredith almost nil.

So, the plan was to send me back home and to put me on a medication that is to kill off the B-cell antibodies. This medicine has been used for whole organ transplants for years to kill off the B-cell antibodies after the transplant to prevent rejection, but it has never been used in a pre-bonemarrow transplant situation. The plan is to test me after 3 or 4 months to see if the B-cell antibodies have been removed from my system and then move forward with the transplant.

I will continue to need blood over the next couple of months as well as during the transplant period. So, now we wait and continue to pray.