This week was full of good news for Lisa Spillman Mesa, former Emporian who now lives in Broken Arrow, Okla.
Mesa is in Baylor University Hospital in Dallas after receiving a stem cell transplant to treat her acute myelogenous leukemia. The disease was diagnosed less than two months after the birth of her and her husband’s second son.
On Monday, Mesa’s former employer in Emporia, Greg Bachman, sponsored a drive to register donors with the National Marrow Donor program. By the time the evening ended, 92 people had had their mouths swabbed to collect DNA samples and had enrolled to become donors should their tissues be compatible with a patient in need of a stem cell or bone marrow transplant.
The second piece of good news was more immediate.
“Some more good news,” Mesa wrote in an e-mail Tuesday afternoon. “I get to be discharged to my apartment here in Dallas tomorrow after only 20 days post-transplant. I’m so ready. Before long, hopefully, I’ll be able to go home.”
Mesa was excited about the outcome of the donor drive. Her family kept her posted on its progress during the evening on Monday.
“I couldn’t believe the final number,” Mesa wrote. “That is so awesome. None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of Greg Bachman. ...
“Even though this drive was too late for me, it almost means more to me to know that someone else in my position could be saved. It only takes one person.
“I also want to thank everyone who came out and made this drive so successful. It’s because of giving, caring and compassionate people like you who will allow me to see my little ones grow up,” Mesa said.