Vision Of a Volunteer – Julie

Volunteering with AADP greatly benefits patients in need of a match. In turn, working with patients touches the lives of volunteers. To highlight this, we are starting a series of volunteer stories, Vision of A Volunteer, where our hardworking helpers have a chance to share how volunteering with AADP has impacted them.

Julie

I got involved with AADP when my dad found them hosting a drive at a school in Oakland and he introduced me to their office. Since the eighth or ninth grade, I would go into the office once or twice a week to help out. At first, AADP was just another place for me to fulfill my volunteer hours. I remember thinking to myself, “Hey, I get hours and I get to help that’s cool.” But I didn’t realize how important this work was until sophomore year where I got to know the staff more and realized that they were incredibly amazing people. I got to listen to stories from past donors and patients at Laugh for Lives and I saw how much AADP meant. It hurts to know that so many patients are in need of bone marrow transplant but can’t do anything about it. They’re relying on the hope that they’ll find a match which is rather difficult in the Asian American community because no one knows how important it is to register and how much they can help.
The thing that always got me were the misconceptions about bone marrow donation and transplants. I understand that there may be some pain but what’s a bit of pain that eventually you’ll forget about when someone’s life is at stake? And when you can literally save a life? I was never able to wrap my head around that. I don’t think people understand the power they hold. So I kept coming to AADP more and more often to work even harder because I want to be able to give someone the chance to save a life and to give someone the chance to live. I wanted to get the opportunity to explain to people why it’s important. I wanted to do whatever I could to help because I was always raised with the idea that the greatest thing I could do is help someone and that’s what AADP does. AADP helps give patients hope. To me, AADP is one of my proudest involvements and I really hope that it will continue to grow and more patients will find their match. #aadpforlyfe

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