KOCO 5 reporter and anchor Zach Rael is heading to California to help his cousin in a battle against a rare form of blood cancer called myelofibrosis.Raels cousin reached out to him about eight months ago for him for help, saying her brother had been diagnosed with myelofibrosis. Rael said his cousin is doing well and there is an up-and-coming treatment that requires a healthy person to donate their stem cells from their blood.Ideally, the donor is a family member because there is a high chance of a match and a positive result, Rael posted on social media.Tests revealed that many family members were not suitable donors, so the family reached out to Rael and others with the hopes that someone would be a match. Rael submitted his DNA and, a few weeks later, learned he was a match.Rael took a flight Tuesday to California, where he will be for the next 10 days as part of the donation process.Over the next few days, I will be documenting my experience, he wrote. I plan on posting daily updates on my social media accounts and will be putting together a special story for air on KOCO when Im done.You can read Raels full story below:Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well on this Tuesday. Im writing this while on board an airplane somewhere over Arizona, on my way to Los Angeles, California. This is my first time flying post-pandemic. Besides the face masks - its been relatively normal.Unfortunately, this is not a vacation or a trip for fun.About 8 months ago my cousin Kathy (2nd cousin on my moms side) reached out to me asking for help. Her brother, my cousin Don, is battling Myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer. While any type of cancer is scary, he is doing as well as he can and luckily there is an up and coming treatment used to treat it. The treatment essentially requires a healthy person to donate their stem cells from their blood to the person with cancer (Ill explain more on that later). Ideally, the donor is a family member because there is a high chance of a match and a positive result.Don and Kathy had already asked all their extended family to submit their DNA, but to no luck. No one came back as a suitable donor. So, they opened the search to extended family and I happily agreed to submit my DNA. Basically, I got a tube in the mail and was asked to spit in it. A few weeks later and I got a call from my cousins that I came back as a match to submit my stem cells to my cousin Don!Truth be told, before all of this, I was not very close with this side of my family. As it happens with extended family - we would only see each other at special family events like weddings, graduations, or funerals. So, I was a little surprised that I came back as a match. But I could not be more thrilled I did! This will be the best possible shot of giving cousin Don a chance to beat this thing!Flash forward to today. Ill be in California for the next 10 days as part of the donation process.A quick breakdown of what is to come: once I land, I will be going straight to City of Hope, the hospital system that is performing the donation and treating Don. They will be running some final tests on me this afternoon, including taking 20 of my vitals (Im told this is normal). Later this week I will have to take a COVID-19 test, an information class, and receive a few dosages of special shots. Ill be taking these shots once a day for 5 days before the donation. They help generate my stem cells so they are more easily extracted. One week from today will be my actual donation. It is a 6-8 hour process where I will be hooked up to a machine. They will take my blood from one arm, run it through a machine, and put my blood back in me through my other arm. Im told its just like giving blood.Over the next few days I will be documenting my experience (see the pic with all my equipment). I plan on posting daily updates on my social media accounts and will be putting together a special story for air on KOCO when Im done. My bosses at KOCO have been so understanding and willing to do what they can so I was able to come out to California for nearly two weeks. Im so thankful.Anyway this post is getting long. I hope you follow along and I hope to shed some light on what it is like to become a stem cell donor. There is a HUGE need for them.Talk soon. Cheers!-Zach

KOCO 5 reporter and anchor Zach Rael is heading to California to help his cousin in a battle against a rare form of blood cancer called myelofibrosis.

Raels cousin reached out to him about eight months ago for him for help, saying her brother had been diagnosed with myelofibrosis. Rael said his cousin is doing well and there is an up-and-coming treatment that requires a healthy person to donate their stem cells from their blood.

Ideally, the donor is a family member because there is a high chance of a match and a positive result, Rael posted on social media.

Tests revealed that many family members were not suitable donors, so the family reached out to Rael and others with the hopes that someone would be a match. Rael submitted his DNA and, a few weeks later, learned he was a match.

Rael took a flight Tuesday to California, where he will be for the next 10 days as part of the donation process.

Over the next few days, I will be documenting my experience, he wrote. I plan on posting daily updates on my social media accounts and will be putting together a special story for air on KOCO when Im done.

You can read Raels full story below:

Hello everyone! I hope you are doing well on this Tuesday. Im writing this while on board an airplane somewhere over Arizona, on my way to Los Angeles, California. This is my first time flying post-pandemic. Besides the face masks - its been relatively normal.

Unfortunately, this is not a vacation or a trip for fun.

About 8 months ago my cousin Kathy (2nd cousin on my moms side) reached out to me asking for help. Her brother, my cousin Don, is battling Myelofibrosis, a rare form of blood cancer. While any type of cancer is scary, he is doing as well as he can and luckily there is an up and coming treatment used to treat it. The treatment essentially requires a healthy person to donate their stem cells from their blood to the person with cancer (Ill explain more on that later). Ideally, the donor is a family member because there is a high chance of a match and a positive result.

Don and Kathy had already asked all their extended family to submit their DNA, but to no luck. No one came back as a suitable donor. So, they opened the search to extended family and I happily agreed to submit my DNA. Basically, I got a tube in the mail and was asked to spit in it. A few weeks later and I got a call from my cousins that I came back as a match to submit my stem cells to my cousin Don!

Truth be told, before all of this, I was not very close with this side of my family. As it happens with extended family - we would only see each other at special family events like weddings, graduations, or funerals. So, I was a little surprised that I came back as a match. But I could not be more thrilled I did! This will be the best possible shot of giving cousin Don a chance to beat this thing!

Flash forward to today. Ill be in California for the next 10 days as part of the donation process.

A quick breakdown of what is to come: once I land, I will be going straight to City of Hope, the hospital system that is performing the donation and treating Don. They will be running some final tests on me this afternoon, including taking 20 of my vitals (Im told this is normal). Later this week I will have to take a COVID-19 test, an information class, and receive a few dosages of special shots. Ill be taking these shots once a day for 5 days before the donation. They help generate my stem cells so they are more easily extracted. One week from today will be my actual donation. It is a 6-8 hour process where I will be hooked up to a machine. They will take my blood from one arm, run it through a machine, and put my blood back in me through my other arm. Im told its just like giving blood.

Over the next few days I will be documenting my experience (see the pic with all my equipment). I plan on posting daily updates on my social media accounts and will be putting together a special story for air on KOCO when Im done. My bosses at KOCO have been so understanding and willing to do what they can so I was able to come out to California for nearly two weeks. Im so thankful.

Anyway this post is getting long. I hope you follow along and I hope to shed some light on what it is like to become a stem cell donor. There is a HUGE need for them.

Talk soon. Cheers!

-Zach

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KOCO 5's Zach Rael heading to California to help cousin with rare form of blood cancer - KOCO Oklahoma City