A Dallas firefighter and dispatcher organized and hosted a blood drive at the Dallas fire department training center on Dolphin Road on Monday morning.
Along with blood donations, people used kits from Be The Match for cheek swabs to see if they might be potential matches for others needing stem cell transplants.
Tracy Murphy, a 30 years veteran of the Dallas Fire-Rescue, ran the blood drive with help from her sister, Paige Graves. This past July, the 60-year-old Murphy was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, drawing her attention to the need for blood and stem cell donations.
Although Murphy has been doing chemotherapy, she recently found that her body is resistant to the treatment. The next treatment option is getting a stem cell transplant.
During the procedure, the patient will receive a transplant of healthy stem cells. Ideally, these cells make it to your marrow and produce healthy blood cells, replacing the old diseased ones.
Graves explained the urgency for donors. She told WFAA, “They will actually tell us to ‘book appointments in the morning because if you don’t get blood in the morning, we may run out.'”
The event collected 57 blood donations and 21 swabs for Be The Match over five hours.
Kim Reider, Murphy’s best friend, said of her, “She gives and gives and gives. She’s funny. She’s sweet. She’s smart. She is generous to a fault.” Murphy’s giving nature makes it easy for others to give back to her, Reider suggested.
To participate in the Be The Match for Murphy, you can text TracysMatch4Life to 61474 or visit her Be The Match link. Upon doing so, the company will send you a swab kit to see if you are a match. To donate, you must be between 18 and 40 years old.