My name is Nancy Crandall. I’m the girl in the derby hat. You may have seen me in a Butler Community School class or in one of Ballet Austin’s Musical Theatre Workshop performances. As I have made the transition from dance teacher to dance student, Ballet Austin has become my studio home.

On the right is my friend Krista, who recently visited from Pennsylvania (and took a Broadway Fit class with me at Ballet Austin). Krista is a freshman at The University of Pittsburgh this fall.

The picture below is Krista when she was my dance student in 1995. This picture was taken a few months before Krista lost her mother after a brief battle with leukemia.

I joined the National Bone Marrow Registry in 1996 in memory of Krista’s mother. In April of this year I received a call from the registry telling me that I was a possible match for a leukemia patient. After the necessary testing I was told that I was “the match.” In June I traveled to San Antonio for the donation procedure. My donation was a PBSC donation or a peripheral blood stem cell donation, the most common type of bone marrow donation. It was a simple and painless blood transfusion but a life-changing experience.

Ballet Austin is graciously donating the Thornton Community Board Room on Saturday, Sept. 18th from 10 am to 2 pm for Bone Marrow Registration. It is free, painless and takes only a few minutes.

You too could save a life. Take the first step and join the registry.