Introducing Stacie and Wendy - Tami's Official Bloggers

My name is Stacie Tamaki and I am one of Tami's cousins. In case any of you are wondering why I've been the one posting here on Tami's behalf, it's because Tami isn't feeling up to it. Between the exhaustion, headaches, nausea and fevers she's been suffering from she simply doesn't have the energy to be online :(

Following Tami's diagnosis I began doing everything I could to learn about Myelodysplasia, bone marrow donation, stem cell transplants, donor drives and marrow donor organizations.

After undertaking an immersion course online, talking to coordinators and donor programs and to anybody else who was willing to offer advice, I set about figuring out how to take my skill sets as a web designer/developer, blogger and internet entrepreneur and use them to create an effective effort to help Tami (and hopefully many others) find a marrow match. I got to work building a website, blog and a private forum (her donor drive team uses to stay in touch) and am now working on how to best publicize the nationwide mail-in donor drive we've launched to help Tami and others in need.

In case you've noticed and are curious as to why my byline on my posts says "The Flirty Girl," it's because I already maintain a blog for my companies "The Flirty Bride" and "The Flirty Guide" and have for years been known within the Northern California Wedding Industry as "The Flirty Girl." So it may seem like an odd username here on Tami's blog but hopefully the fact that that's been my username on Blogger for years explains it for those who might have wondered.

For the foreseeable future I'll continue posting for Tami and about her donor drive along with a friend of mine who has offered to help and be a part of Tami's team.

Please welcome my friend Wendy who will also be blogging for Tami.

Wendy is someone who is very familiar with the National Marrow Donor Program. She has been a member of the registry for years and has been called upon on three occasions after her tissue sample was a preliminary match to patients in need. The first time a closer match was found, the second time she was the best match but the patient became to ill to be able to undergo the transplant procedure and currently she is now, for the third time, in the formal confirmative testing stage of possibly saving the life of someone who is a complete stranger to her.

Because of this I felt Wendy was uniquely qualified to help keep you updated and informed here on the blog.

Wendy and I know each other from the website Dogster.com where we met years ago online and have since become real life friends. The picture above is from when my dog Kitai and I went to NYC for less then 24 hours to be on the TODAY show in their pet Halloween costume contest. Wendy who doesn't live in the immediate area drove hours all the way to Manhattan to come to the taping at the NBC studio and then to spend a few hours hanging out with us at the hotel and in Central Park. She's a great friend and I really appreciate her help here-on-out on Tami's blog. Thanks so much Wendy!