Susan Butcher the famous iditarod champion was detected with leukemia. She was looking forward to participate in the 300-mile sled dog race conducted in this winter .
She is the four times winner of the 1100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. She said that she will win this race of survival with the same grit and confidence.She is fighting leukemia by staying alive and to do so she needs a bone marrow donor. She is in the Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Leukemia is not a disease that can be fought alone so she appeals to the fellow Alaskans to come forward for the blood drive. Thereby these people have the potential chance of survival.
Every year about 50 cases of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) are being detected in Alaska. The main idea behind this drive is to ask for help to the native Alaskans to register in this blood drive. The reason is that they are a very small group and the donors make up about less than1% among the 5.5 million donors.
The match that is done before bone marrow transplant will be fully matched only if the bone marrow of the donor is of the similar genetic origin of the recipient. Statistics show that 12,000 people are diagnosed with AML each year.
But the hospital is of great help they provide her with lot of hope and love which is what is very important for a leukemic patient to keep going. She says that one should not lose hope.
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