By TANNER BLACKHAM
My name is Tanner Blackham, and I’m Clementine’s mom.
Clementine was just eight months old when we learned she had a rare TLR8 genetic mutation and would need a bone marrow transplant. I remember sitting on my mom’s dining room floor, completely paralyzed with fear. We sat in that fear for a few seconds, and then we all sat up and said, “Okay, now what are we doing?”
I immediately started searching online because, at that point, I knew nothing about bone marrow transplants. DKMS came up, and I thought, “Let’s do it.” I reached out right away, and in less than 24 hours, we were on a FaceTime call with Iris, a donor recruiter at DKMS, setting up our first donor drive.
At that point, everything about our lives had changed. There was so much fear and uncertainty, but there was also something we could do. We could get people registered. We could tell Clementine’s story. We could ask people to take a few minutes to become someone who could potentially save a life.
That became incredibly important to us.
Clementine eventually found her match and received her transplant in 2023. Today, she is a fun, energetic four-year-old who gets to run, play, laugh, and simply be a kid. My daughter gets to have a future because someone else was willing to say yes.
But even after Clementine received her transplant, I knew our job was not over. We had been given something incredibly life-changing, and we wanted to use that experience to help other families who were still waiting. We knew firsthand what it felt like to need a match. Now, we want to help find a match for every person still waiting for their perfect match through DKMS.
Working with DKMS gave us a way to turn the fear we felt into action. We started sharing Clementine’s story and asking people to join the donor registry. We hosted successful in-person opportunities for people to learn more and register, but we also knew we needed a way to reach people who could not physically be there.
That is when we learned about DKMS’s virtual drive option.
DKMS created a personalized page where we could share Clementine’s story and photos. We sent it to our friends and family, who shared it with their own networks, and then those people shared it with theirs. It allowed Clementine’s story to reach more people than I ever could have imagined.
Anyone who received the page could learn about Clementine and click a link to complete a registration form. DKMS would then send a swab kit directly to them, making it possible for people anywhere in the United States to take the first step toward becoming a potential donor.
Through Clementine’s virtual drive alone, 916 people registered.
When I think about that number, I do not just see 916 registrations. I see 916 people who chose to pause, learn what it means to be a donor, and say yes to the possibility of helping someone they would probably never meet. I see 916 people who took a small action because they understood that, somewhere out there, another family might be sitting on their own dining room floor, scared and searching for answers.
Recently, we learned that one of those 916 people went on to donate and save a life.
That is why we will keep doing this. We will keep sharing Clementine’s story, partnering with DKMS, and encouraging people to register. Because behind every registration is a possibility: the possibility of a child growing up, a parent coming home, or a family having more time together.
Clementine was once the little girl waiting for someone to say yes. Now, she gets to be part of the reason another family may one day hear the words they have been hoping for: “We found a match.”
And there is nothing more powerful than that.
