Bloodworks 101

Hope, A Bone Marrow Transplant & A Family Secret: A Sister's Search (S3 E1)

September 01, 2021 Bill Harper Season 3 Episode 1
Bloodworks 101
Hope, A Bone Marrow Transplant & A Family Secret: A Sister's Search (S3 E1)
Show Notes

This is a story about a bone marrow transplant, a mother’s dying wish, a long-held family secret, and how one way to find your sister is by saving her life fourteen years before you met her for the first time. And how all those things came together from six states away in a way that even the people involved still find hard to believe.

When Judy Larraga’s oncologist told her she needed a bone marrow transplant to be cured of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia in 2004, she consented to the aggressive procedure immediately, despite the risks and challenging treatment course it entailed. And as a Hispanic woman, her chances of finding a suitable donor match to even get the transplant were just 46%. But she never lost hope that there’d be someone out there to help her. 

Who that “somebody” turned out to be would change Judy’s life forever, strengthen her faith in God, and bring a whole new dimension to a family secret her mother revealed on her death bed. It would be 15 years before she knew the rest of the story.