Deze week deelde het Engelse stamceldonorregister Anthony Nolan een aangrijpend gedicht. Voor het nichtje van de 26-jarige Jamie uit Engeland werd niet op tijd een stamceldonor gevonden. Het inspireerde hem om een gedicht te schrijven, waar hij veel mensen mee wist te raken.

GEDICHT (Engels):
“I won’t bother filling that form, it’s 10 minutes I’ll never get back, 
Others will do it instead, they have the patience I lack,
They’ll get the letters, they’ll do the swab,
They’ll return the sample, they’ll do the job,
Nothing isn’t making it worse, nothing did no harm at all,
Hoping you land on your feet, not pushing nor stopping the fall,
But now your down and in pain, guilt is all I can feel,
Guilt that I didn’t do something, and now it’s all so real. 

"Because now you’re plugged in and crying, lifting your hand up to mine,
The doctors to me they keep lying, as I know you’ll always be fine,
They’ll find a donor, a last minute match,
And then you’ll walk out, not even a scratch,
And we’ll all be happy, and talk about how,
Death knocked on your door, and you said “not now”,
And aren’t we such lucky people, to have found that kind-hearted soul,
But that’s not how it worked, and now I must fill that hole.

"That space that’s inside me, where you used to be,
That guilt that is haunting, it could have been me,
That I could have matched, but I didn’t try
And now I repent, and now I will cry,
Because now you are gone, I might be to blame,
I didn’t have time, to fill in my name,
To fill in that form, add me to the list,
No donors were found, opportunity missed.”