Donna Byington's Ancestry DNA story post 2

Ok so back to the story. Donna was matched to a list of people top of the list was my brother who is the only other person in our family who has done the DNA test. Next close match was a lady named Deon Huntsman. Part of the ancestry story is that they let you message people who you match with. So Donna got some nerve up and messaged Deon. She explained to Deon that they matched and that she was wondering if she was related to Donna's birth mom. Deon asked Donna a couple questions, first being when were you born, then how do you know thats your mom's name, last where were you born? Then she said that she may be Donna's mom youngest sister. She also explained that if this is your birth mom you have 1 brother and 5 sisters. Donna got very emotional when she received this message. It was a tear filled exciting moment. Donna promptly messaged her back and answered those questions. Deon messaged Donna back and yes in fact that she was Donna's aunt and confirmed that Donna was the middle of 7 kids! Whoa, so everything she thought was the deal with her birth was wrong. It was not a teenage mom. Donna let the info sink in that she had siblings. She Had sisters and a big brother. Aunt Deon told Donna about her siblings.
Roger Strom-Lives in Hurricane Utah
Janis Lunt-Lives in Nampa
Penny Peck-Lives in Pocatello
Cindy Radford-Lives in Rigby
Kelly Davenport-Lives in Nampa
Roxane Cornell-Lives in Pocatello
Holy cow this info blew her away. Not only does she have siblings but some of them live very close by. Then she started to evaluate each of their names and one sounded very familiar and so some Facebook stalking was in order and turns out her sister Penny Peck is someone she has known since she worked at A&W (told you info was important later)! So Deon gave Penny a call and talked to her about Donna and Penny remembered her from working at A&W. Penny was very excited to hear this amazing news. It was November 2017 when Donna received all this info and as luck would have it all of Donna's kids and most of all of her grandkids were coming home for Thanksgiving. So plans were made for Penny to Join our family and meet us at Outer Limits. It was a fantastic opener to the family she was about to all meet. It was all very easy. Surprisingly easy. Penny told Donna some about all of her siblings. After Thanksgiving Penny, Kelly, Cindy, Roxane all decided to get together to meet their new sister and go to dinner to meet. The meeting was set for Sizzler. Kelly and Cindy drove to Pocatello to meet their new sister. It was a fun meeting. There is a lot in common with the sisters. They told Donna many stories about their mom and the life they all had. Cindy was also adopted out when she was born a few years after Donna. Cindy found the family 20 years earlier(I think I am asking and will update if its wrong)! She did some Genealogy searching and found Roger and contacted him directly. She can add her part to this story later. So shortly after finding out she had a huge biological family Donna met 4 out of six of her sibling and they are all so amazing and loving.....................More on the next post.

Donna Byington's Ancestry DNA story

Ok so I will start this story with some background on my momma! I have decided to write this because her story is amazing and I think we need it for posterity. She was born 5-28-50 in Pocatello Idaho. She was adopted by Marvin and Erma Herzinger. She was the only child they had. Donna grew up an only child and was the pride and joy of her Parents and grandparents. She had a very good life growing up in Pocatello. She started her working career as a teenager at A&W and why is that important you ask, well later on in the story it will become important. Her dad was not a Member of the LDS church and her mom was not active and their lifestyle was the party life. They liked to drink and have fun on the weekends with their friends so Donna spent a lot of time at her Grandma Eva's house during those time and Grandma made sure she got to church. She gained a testimony of the church and loved it dearly. She had a great life but always wanted siblings. She was lonely often and missed having siblings to play with. She meet and Married Gary Byington in 1968. They decided to start and family and Donna knew she didn't want just one kid because she didn't want her kid to be lonely and miss the sibling fun. So together the had 6 kids. Sadly one sweet boy Cord Aaron passed away from crib death as a very young baby! So Gary and Donna had three boys and then 2 girls. Donna always knew she was adopted. I asked her if there was ever a time when her parents sat her down and had a conversation about her being adopted. She said no she just always knew it wasn't like it was a big family secret or anything. She was a answer to prayers for them. Since she had such great parents and family she never felt the need to look for her biological family. She knew if someday they wanted to find her they would if not it was ok. She just always figured she was born to a teen mom who was sent way to have a baby like so many in that day and age. After her dad passed away from lung cancer, Donna and her mom decided to take her dad through the temple and be sealed together. At that time they had to go to the court house and have the adoption record open. Then she found out her biological mothers name and that she was an unwed mother. So that made Donna believe even more that her bio mom was a teen mom. Her Bio moms name was Dorothy Strom. Shortly after they went to the temple Donna's mom Erma passed away from brain cancer. Donna felt very alone for a while but my dad reminded her she was never alone because she had us kids and his very large family. So fast forward till 2017 and the time of lots of companies doing DNA tests to see where you are from. Mary, Donna's sister in law bought Donna a gift as a thank you and early Christmas present of an ancestry DNA kit. Mary felt like Donna should at least know her heritage and where her family came from. So in October 2017 Donna used the DNA kit and sent it off.................. little did she know that part of that service is they match you with people whose DNA most closely matches yours. So there is the background info on Donna. Come back for more to the story.

It's been a while

I have not blogged my situation since 2012! That is a long time ago! My medical stuff has been really good. I have been technically considered in remission since 2012. It is a great feeling! It was a rough road and while I am not 100%, there are still an occasional rough day! I am sure some day I will look back and not remember those days! Finger crossed anyway! So since my medical stuff is in under control for now I am going to use this blog to talk about my life and my moms journey through ancestry DNA and finding her biological family! It is a great story with a very happy ending. At first I thought I would write it all out first and then I would get all my mom siblings reactions to the situation and see about a book. But that is not working for my motivation to sit with a notebook and pen is waining. I will kind of start the journey with some back info then I will post a day to day happenings and hopefully I can remember all the day to day exciting things that happened! It has almost been a year and my post bone marrow transplant brain struggles to remember some things. Then I will work on getting all of the siblings reactions and add them to this blog! 

I will probably post multiple posts in a row to keep it organized. 

Thank You 

Marcy 

A very good day!

As I am sitting down to type this I am feeling very humbled! First we will start with the doctor stuff. I went in today for labs and to speak with a PA. Everything looks good with me no sign of GVHD and no fevers! My lab works was pretty much the same. Except, platelets they are up again to 153. This so remarkable for me to be this high. In the whole journey I have had with aplastic anemia I have never seen numbers like this! It's great I am hoping soon to feel the effects of high blood counts. So despite having to do the magnesium today and tomorrow my spirit has have been lightened by amazing people. An anonymous package was left on my door at home tonight. The package was filled with a ton of wonderful food for my family. That's not even the most remarkable part it also had a note. The note explained to us how we should not stress or spend money on Christmas. That it would all be provided for us! This is very humbling and very amazing. Some angels knew we were stressing about how to take care of our responsibilities and give our kids the Christmas they deserve! To whom ever has done this wondrous thing for my family THANK YOU! I can never express how much it means to us! Rylee in all her cuteness just says duh it's Santa! The faith of the littles can teach us so much!

Day 27 post transplant

So it's been a few days since I have blogged. SORRY! A lot has happened first off I am out of the hospital. My counts are getting very close to a normal level! That is the most amazing part to me is I am transfusion free! I am staying in sandy UT with my mom and dad at my Uncle Ken's house. Thank you so much Ken for making it available to us! I have about another 60 days to spend in Utah before I can return home. Each day I am getting stronger and stronger. We are trying to keep me infection free and clear of GVHD (graft vs. host disease). So each day I rest plenty, make sure not to miss taking pills and I hook myself up to IV Magnesium for about five hours. Sounds like fun huh! Today I actually got out of the house and went to Walmart. It was a fun outing but very tiring. We got a small Christmas tree to put up here and a foam mattress for my very hard bed! I hope I sleep good tonight. I miss my family and home very much! I miss being mom and seeing my kids everyday. They are growing up way to fast. I am going to Christmas shop on the Internet starting tomorrow. That should give me something to do! My hair is still gone but we bought me a nice wig that looks natural. The side effects of the drugs are deal able. Not ideal but not the worst thing ever. Most days I am pain free but somedays like tonight my legs ache from the new bone marrow growing they tell me! I go to the doctor twice a week and I will try to blog after those appointments with an update. I go again Tuesday. I have been very blessed by so many people thoughts and prayers. My dear sister set it up so I have a card or present to open everyday and I am very great full to those that have participated in that. It is uplifting to know so many care, some I don't even know! Thanks Maja! For tonight that is all I have but I will try to do better!

Day 8

Sorry it has taken me awhile to post! It has been a rough week! So I went through all four days of chemo really well. The transplant happened on Monday the 29th. My amazing big brother donated bone marrow to me. The process of his donation was a full surgery. They put him completely out and then went into both of his hip bones and aspirated the bone marrow. Then they took the bone marrow and tested and cleaned it so I could receive it. I had extra people here that day to witness the big day with me. My mom, my hubbie, my wonderful sister Maja, and my super hero Phillip! They put the bone marrow in my central line. It is a lot like a blood transfusion. Then the next few days were really rough on me. I spent a lot of time being nauscious and throwing up! The doctors and nurses are great and helped manage the symptoms. Each day has a different challenge and each new medication brings on new side effects. Today the doctor came in and told us some good news. He says I am doing better than 99% of his patients. That is very encouraging news. I just keep praying that things continue to go smoothly. The process is extremely stressful not having my kids and hubbie around as much as I would like. I miss my friends and their kids too! I am very thankful to my mom and her putting her life on hold to be here with me everyday! It is huge sacrifice for her and she will never know just how much it means to me. I am also very thankful to all the people who made our benefit a success so that money is not a thing we have to stress about! So thank you very much to each and every person! Time is flying by and soon I will be out of the hospital and on my way to recovery!
Thank you all and I love you all!

My journey though Bone Marrow Transplant!

Ok so I know I haven't posted anything for a long time because I didn't have much to say until now! So I am admitted to the Huntsman Cancer Center in Salt Lake City Ut. I am under going treatment for aplastic anemia! This treatment is called a Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT). Most people don't have a full understanding of what that means. First thing I need to start my journey is a donor. So the chance of having a sibling match is 1 in 5 and I am lucky enough to have one! My brother Phillip has been willing and ready to do that for me! Next thing that has to happen is I have to be in the hospital for an extended period of time. For the first week I will have intense chemotherapy to kill my bone marrow and immune system. Then the second week I will get the actual transplant. Which for me is just an infusion though a central line that has been placed. For Phillip it means surgery to remove his bone marrow! OUCH! He is awesome because he is willing to go through so much pain for me. So after the transplant happens then we just wait to see if it worked. For at least the first three weeks that will be spent in the hospital. Then the last 6-8 weeks I will be staying at my uncle Kens house in Sandy Ut. So I am at the hosptial and have started the chemo! My body is handling it well I have had some dizziness and nausiousness. But not too bad considering how sick I could be. I am really thankful for everyone. It is a long scary journey a head but I have the support of so many and I will make it through