Four years ago, my husband and I sat in a hospital room in Ann Arbor, waiting.
Our son, Max, was just 3 years old and needed a bone marrow transplant. Somewhere over the Atlantic, a courier was heading our way with a life-changing donation from a young man in Germany.
Max was born with Diamond-Blackfan Anemia, a rare disorder that meant his body couldn’t make its own red blood cells. From the day he was born, he needed a blood transfusion every three weeks just to grow and develop.
But because we were able to find a bone marrow donor through the NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program) registry, Max is now thriving.
Last week, during Ford’s Global Caring Month, I had the opportunity to help others impacted by blood diseases when my co-workers joined me and Max to volunteer for NMDP.
An Organization That Saves Lives
A transplant can cure or treat 75+ diseases, including blood cancers such as leukemia and other blood disorders like Max’s, but most patients are unable to find a suitable donor in their family.
That’s where NMDP comes in. Formerly known as Be the Match, NMDP connects patients with blood cancers and disorders to life-saving bone marrow and stem cell transplants.
When our medical team searched their registry, we learned there were several strong matches for Max. I can’t overstate what that relief felt like. It lifted a weight I’d been carrying since before he could walk.
NMDP’s team also supported us through every step that followed, including providing practical guidance on parenting a 3-year-old with serious medical restrictions during and after the transplant.
We never got to meet Max’s donor or learn much about him, but we’ll forever be grateful for the role that he and NMDP have played in our lives.
Today, Max is an energetic 7-year-old who plays soccer, rocks a mohawk, and loves dinosaurs and trucks, with no ongoing treatment required. He has zero memory of how hard his first three years were. That’s the gift that NMDP and his donor gave our whole family.
Global Caring Month Provides an Opportunity to Give Back
Once Max was on his road to recovery, I was eager to give back to this incredible organization. Today, I volunteer with NMDP, mentoring other families who are navigating transplants with young children.
I wanted to take the toughest thing our family ever went through and turn it into something that could help someone else.
One of the keys to happiness is doing good for others. And that’s what Global Caring Month, the Ford Volunteer Corps’ signature month of service, is all about.
What I love most about this annual event is that it puts Ford employees in the driver’s seat. Global Caring Month gives us the opportunity to apply for a Ford Philanthropy grant of up to $10,000 to organize volunteering projects in support of causes we care about.
So that’s what I did with NMDP.
Through Global Caring Month, I was able to rally support for an organization that means a lot to me personally, and together with my team, we helped more families in our community and around the world who are impacted by blood cancers and disorders.
A Full Circle Moment
Max thinks it’s pretty cool that I work at Ford, and Bring Your Child to Work Day is one of his favorite activities of the year. He talks almost daily about how many Broncos, Mustangs, and F-150s he spots when we’re out and about.
Last week, I had a new reason to bring him to work. Together with 30 of my co-workers at Ford’s World Headquarters in Dearborn, he helped us assemble, apply barcode labels, and package swab kits used for NMDP’s blood stem cell donor registrations.
We also wrote cards and made bracelets to provide messages of strength and hope for the families going through transplant.
Over the course of an afternoon, we were able to build 2,500 swab kits, write 44 cards, and make 37 bracelets. I couldn’t stop thinking about how one of them could potentially change everything for another family waiting for a match, just like one had changed everything for ours.
Getting to share this cause with Max, at Ford, alongside the colleagues who had supported us through every step of our journey, was truly a full-circle moment.
I’m so proud to work for a company that continually provides employees like me with the time, resources, and encouragement to make a difference.
How to Get Involved
If you’re a Ford employee reading this, there’s still time this Global Caring Month to sign up on the Ford Volunteer Corps Hub to volunteer for a project alongside your colleagues.
It’s a great way to connect with your coworkers, to support organizations doing good right in your own backyard, and to be a part of Ford’s deep commitment to community service.
Jen Brace is Chief Futurist at Ford Motor Company.
