Father of two thanks blood donors who saved his life

As Tyler Bacon gripped the lectern in Carnesale Commons and scanned the crowd gazing at him expectantly, he struggled to hold back tears.The 39-year-old father of two from Thousand Oaks was finally meeting some of the more than two dozen people whose blood and platelet donations sustained his life during cancer treatment at  Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.  “Because you showed up and donated, my parents still have a son,” Bacon said. “My children have a dad. My wife has a husband.”His voice quaking with emotion, he added, “All the gratitude in the world would not be enough to say thank you.”Bacon hugged each member of the group, which ranged in age from 19 to 68, at a Jan. 11 event organized by the  UCLA Blood& Platelet Center to honor its top donors.A lifelong athlete and former professional basketball player in Denmark, Bacon had never experienced health problems until a dental procedure in 2016 resulted in extreme pain and a 104-degree fever. A hospital test revealed that Bacon ’s red blood cells had plummeted due to acute myeloid leukemia, the deadliest form of blood cancer. He was immediately admitted to UCLA.UCLA Health After Bacon underwent two rounds of chemo followed by radiation, his older brother proved a match for a bone marrow transplant. His brother ’s donation replaced Bacon’s bone marrow, which was destroyed by the high doses of chemo and radiation. None of these medical interventions would have been possible without the 29 units...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news