Angels Walk the Earth

 And We Met One!

The young man in this picture with Wade is an angel of God. 

His name is Tom McDonald.  He lives in Pickney, MI with his beautiful wife. Ellicette, and his two sons, Christopher and Anthony.  He is an RN at the Ann Arbor VA Hospital, serving in the in-patient mental health unit.  He drove his family 140 miles round trip to met us at the St Clair MetroBeach park.  On Christopher’s birthday, of all things. 

All that makes him out to be a pretty high-quality dude, doesn’t it.    Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet, bucko.

Tom is also Wade’s genetic sibling.  “Huh?” you say?  Well, Tom’s donated stem cells were transplanted into Wade’s bloodstream in 2010, curing Wade’s acute myeloid leukemia.   Tom’s bone marrow became Wade’s bone marrow.   Tom’s blood type became Wade’s blood type.  So, he and Wade are now more closely related than Wade is to his familial siblings. (Sadly, his hairline did not come across in the transplant.)

We became acquainted with Tom thru the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance several years ago and this trip presented the opportunity to meet in person for the first time.   Among other things, we learned that he only became a registered stem cell donor AFTER Wade’s initial diagnosis in 2009.   To us, that is just another sign of God’s hand in Wade’s treatment and recovery.   AMEN!

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