You may ask yourself, "How did I get here?"

It is humbling to recognize how little control we really have over our own lives. So many outside forces can alter our best laid plans. Timing. Weather. Health. We are at the mercy of anything and everything. Call it what you will...fate, the butterfly effect, destiny, chance.

On February 7th, 2009 it was any combination of the above.

My friend Morgan and I had planned on going to Independence Mall for a shopping trip. We also knew that there was a "Drive For Change" Bone Marrow-thon taking place at the mall that day. We discussed it briefly with each other, and said while we were at the mall we should go ahead and register. But we were mostly heading to the mall to shop the sales.

After making a few purchases, we found ourselves at the end of the mall where the Drive for Change registration was setup. So we filled out our National Marrow Donation registration paperwork, stuck a few cotton swabs in our mouth to collect our DNA, and picked up our goody bags full of T-shirts, informational pamphlets, and coupons for some stores in the mall. The whole process probably took no more than 15 minutes.

They had really been pressing for people to register who came from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Morgan and I are your average, everyday Caucasians, so we figured we'd probably never get called for a match since they were so set on getting donors who were African-American, Latino, and Asian. But we figured we'd go ahead anyway. Heck, we were there...why not?

I really did not think about it much again once we left the mall. A few weeks later while cleaning out my closet, I came across the T-shirt they gave us reading "Drive for Change" in big letters across the front. Knowing I would never really wear it, I packed it in the bag with some other items to take to Goodwill.

But fast-forward exactly 5 months, and that day would be yanked back into my memory with one phone call.

On July 13, 2009 I received an email. It was the National Marrow Donor Program writing to say I came up as a match for an urgent case. No sooner had I finished reading the email then my cell phone wrang. I already knew who it had to be.

Sure enough, Susan from the National Marrow Donor Program was calling. She told me I came up as a match for a very urgent case, and asked if I would be willing to proceed with the process. Before I knew it, I was scheduled for bloodtests at the local LabCorp. All I knew at that point was the recipient's diagnosis, which is Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

I was excited and anxious. Full of questions. And the word "urgent" kept popping into my head. An "urgent case". In big, red font.

I was on fire- I was READY! "Okay, let's do this thing," I thought to myself. I was ready to drop everything and do whatever it took to get this mystery person from "urgent" to "improving". So I went for bloodtests, filled out some health questionarres, and waited. And waited. And waited. Weeks went by, and I didn't hear anything. I was disappointed, and thought maybe something on my questionare or my bloodwork threw up some red flags and they decided I wouldn't be a prime candidate. I was sad. Not knowing what happened to the "urgent" recipient.

But on September 17th I got another call from them. Bloodwork looked good, and we were ready to take the next step.

So here we go...this is my journey in becoming a donor. It is my hope that people will follow along, become aware of the opportunity to register as a donor, and support the efforts taking place to bring hope to those who need it.

- Andy