When she heard the news, she couldnt breathe. Tears started flowing.
“Can you please repeat that?” she asked.
“You have a match,” she remembers the nurse saying.
Susie Rabaca, pregnant with twins and suffering from leukemia, has received word that a “perfect 10” bone marrow donor match has been identified. The donor is anonymous and is still undergoing testing. A tentative date for the transplant has been set for Jan. 9 at the City of Hope in Duarte.
“Its truly a miracle,” Rabaca, 36, of San Pedro, said Thursday, Nov. 29.
She is scheduled to give birth to boy and girl twins on Dec. 6.
Rabaca said she had been discouraged when the registry of 30 million potential donors in the Be The Match organization didnt match her. She is half-Mexican, half-Caucasian making a match more difficult.
“I had no idea how I was going to find a match,” she said. “It was scary.”
A Nov. 16 story by the Southern California News Group started a wave of signups for Be The Match. Inspired by Rabacas story, the numbers grew past 50,000 new potential donors. The numbers grew so high, Be The Match ran out of donor kits.
Susie Rabaca is surrounded by her family in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Clockwise from upper left are Rabacas daughter Jade Vega, mother Yvette Bielma, grandmother, Susie Florez, husband Sal Russo, sister Tiffany Rabaca, daughter Rylee Russo, Rabaca and son Edgar Vega. Rabaca is pregnant with twins and is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Susie Rabaca holds her daughter Rylee Russo, 4, in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Rabaca is pregnant with twins and is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
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Susie Rabaca has a laugh after taking off her beanie to expose her bald head as she talks about her pregnancy with twins and recently finding out she has leukemia in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. She is undergoing chemotherapy and her babies are will be delivered in December. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Susie Rabaca becomes emotional as she talks about her pregnancy with twins and recently finding out she has leukemia in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. She is undergoing chemotherapy and her babies are will be delivered in December. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
With her daughter Rylees name tatooed on her arm, Susie Rabaca becomes emotional as she talks about her pregnancy with twins and recently finding out she has leukemia in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. She is undergoing chemotherapy and her babies are will be delivered in December. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Susie Rabaca and her husband Sal Russo in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. Rabaca is pregnant with twins and is undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Susie Rabaca, left, shares a moment with her sister, Tiffany Rabaca, as she talks about her pregnancy with twins and recently finding out she has leukemia in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. She is undergoing chemotherapy and her babies are will be delivered in December. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Susie Rabaca has a laugh just before taking off her beanie to expose her bald head as she talks about her pregnancy with twins and recently finding out she has leukemia in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. She is undergoing chemotherapy and her babies are will be delivered in December. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
Susie Rabaca has a laugh as she takes off her beanie to expose her bald head as she talks about her pregnancy with twins and recently finding out she has leukemia in Carson on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018. She is undergoing chemotherapy and her babies are will be delivered in December. (Photo by Scott Varley, Daily Breeze/SCNG)
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“Its a blessing,” said Al Gomez, a community outreach specialist at Be The Match. “Its crazy this happened so fast. It was a tremendous outpouring of love and support.”
Then a nurse from Kaiser called to inform her about the schedule of doctor visits before her transplant.
The call caught Rabaca off guard.
“Wait, do I have a match?” she asked.
The answer sent her into celebration mode. Rabacas family and friends met at Sorrentos restaurant in San Pedro.
Yvette Bielma, Rabacas mother, said she felt great for her daughter, and also for everyone else waiting for bone marrow donors.
“Were happy to be able to help others,” Bielma said.
Rabaca said her hope grew in recent days as her story went viral. She heard from Australia, from England, from Thailand.
“There are so many people still waiting,” Rabaca said.
Rabaca worked as a cake decorator at Albertsons. She found out she was pregnant in May. She was the mother of three – Jade, 14, Edgar, 13 and Rylee, 4. Getting pregnant was a happy accident.
Then she found out she had leukemia.
She said now that she has a match, she will have a round of radiation and chemotherapy after the babies are born and before the transplant.
On Sunday, Dec. 2, she will appear at the Harbor Christian Center in Wilmington after the morning service to sign up people for Be The Match.
“We need more matches,” Rabaca said.
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