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When my late husband David Israel was diagnosed with ALS in 2010, I couldn’t imagine how I’d ever cope. Someone in his neurologist’s office handed me a manual called the “ALS Caregivers Guide.” There were sections for “Drooling,” “Choking,” and “Feeding Tubes.” The last one was “Saying Goodbye.”
“How will I possibly handle this?” I asked a friend.
“Call Ron Hoffman!” she said.
I waited for him in a café south of Boston. A long-haired guy in jeans showed up, speaking in a Southern twang. I remembered that moment when, years later, I asked a man whose father had ALS if he’d ever heard of Ron Hoffman. “You mean the hippie ALS guy?” he said.
Originally published on February 5, 2021 3:14 pm
Every year, about 10,000 people in the U.S. need a stem cell transplant but can’t find a donor.
The intense medical procedure, which can help those with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia and other blood diseases, can save lives but securing a donor can be like finding a needle in a haystack.
Be The Match is a nonprofit, national registry where people can sign up to donate their stem cells. More than 35 million people around the world have volunteered yet only a small percentage of those donors are Americans, and even the registry admits most Americans don’t know it exists.