In 2023 Trista from Wallace Wilkinson and Webster made the lifesaving decision to donate her bone marrow to an unknown recipient in the UK. A year later she received a letter of gratitude from the lady she helped and her family. This generous act of kindness inspired Trista’s work colleagues to make a donation to Arrow’s financial support program to support local bone marrow transplant patients.

Here is Trista’s story:

In early 2020 I registered my DNA on the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry (ABMDR).  I had seen a Facebook post that one of my close friends had shared for a friend, that really pulled at my heart strings.  A young mother to a toddler the same age as my own, was in desperate need of a bone marrow donation.  At the time, there was no one on the Registry that was a match, and so my friend was sharing her post, desperately hoping more people would add themselves to the Bone Marrow Donor Registry.  I just remember thinking, I have to add myself to the Registry – this woman cannot lose her life and leave her darling baby behind to live without her!

In late 2022, I was contacted by ABMDR and advised that I had been identified as a match for a woman living in the UK.  She was in desperate need of a bone marrow donation.  The Registry asked if I would agree to be a donor and ensured me that I could back out if I had changed my mind.  I thought, how can I back out, when so many people lose their lives because a match cannot be found? And right now there is someone out there that I could potentially save.

In early 2023 after further testing to make sure the recipient and I were a very close match – I began the four days of G-CSF injections which promote the growth of stem cells within the body and move them into your bloodstream.  On the fifth day I was admitted into the Royal Hobart Hospital where my stem cells were collected and then flown to the UK late that same night.

Almost a year after my donation, I received a handwritten letter from my recipient.  She told me that she was doing extremely well and that she wanted to tell me how incredibly grateful she was for getting another chance at life.  She explained that she has a little girl and a husband, and she now has the opportunity to grow old with her family and be there for all of her daughter’s milestones.  To say I was ecstatic to hear this is a complete understatement.   To know you have saved someone’s life, to know you have given a child another chance to keep her mother, and to know you have allowed a husband many more years with his wife, it really is a surreal feeling. And with that inspiring story, Trista’s work colleagues at law firm Wallace Wilkinson & Webster decided they would also like to support people who have received a bone marrow transplant.

Mufti for charity

Every Friday the staff at Wallace Wilkinson & Webster Lawyers wear casual clothes to raise money for charity. The team chose to donate the funds raised from their weekly mufti day to Arrow’s patient financial support program to help bone marrow transplant patients.

Located in Hobart Tasmania, the team from Wallace Wilkinson & Webster are aware that bone marrow transplant patients from Hobart need to travel across to mainland Australia to receive treatment. So with that in mind, the team have made a donation towards our patient support program to help cover the travel and accommodation costs associated with treatment.

Thank you Wallace Wilkinson & Webster for your kind donation and to Trista for saving a life!

If you would like to join the ABMDR and become a donor, we encourage you to take the leap and go for it.  It only takes a simple online registration and completing an oral swab that is posted to your home address, and you are on the worldwide Register – and perhaps one day, you will save a life too.