Manolo says, in the November, the Manolo posted the news that his internet friend the Debutaunt had been afflicted with the grave illness.

Here is the update from the sister of Debbie.

Dear Manolo,

Just wanted to let you know an update on my sister at www.debutaunt.com. She is going to be getting her blood stem cell transplant on Monday. Right now, the Debu is already admitted to the hospital to get the preparatory treatment—radiation and chemo. The blood stem cell transplant is not an easy process to go through but it gives the best hope to thousands of people, including my sister.

Though going through a transplant is not terribly fun, we learned something that we didn’t know previously—that the donation process is pretty easy. People think of donating blood stem cells as being very painful, and the old way of doing it was certainly not comfortable. But the new technology does not involve an operation into the bone marrow, rather, they just take extra stem cells out of the donors’ blood—kind of like giving platelets.

My sister was fortunate that she had a match in my brother. But there are thousands of people who are not that lucky and rely on the National Marrow Donor Program to find a match. Here is information on how to join it: http://www.marrow.org/HELP/join_the_registry.html .

Anyhow, with the transplant, the Debu is going to be in the hospital for 20-40 more days and is already bored as heck. As her hospital fashion statement, she rejects hospital gowns as being too immodest and ugly, and favors Nick and Nora pajamas (Target now carries them—they are the most genius company). She has the internets in her hospital room, and it has been a lifesaver to be able to visit her internet friends. So if you would like to visit, I am sure she would adore it.

Buona giornata!
Steph

Once again the Manolo implores his many readers to send the prayers and the positive thoughts toward the Debutaunt so that she may be restored to the health.