A quick update here: In my first post I said that Brad’s brother James was a match and would be donating stem cells for Brad’s transplant. But at that point the word from the labs was actually that he was a 99 percent match. (This was up from 90 percent after the first round of tests. Everything in medicine seems to take a very long time.) That number was good enough for the transplant team, which started teeing Brad up (their term) for admission in early January, on the assumption that that last I would be dotted and last T crossed in due course. Today we heard it was, and that James is a perfect match.

The odds of any given sibling being a match are 25 percent, so we feel very fortunate that Brad and James are matched. The best-case scenario for a stem cell donation, as it happens, is donation from a younger male sibling. The odds on Brad’s disease and diagnosis have hardly been ever in our favor, but it’s very nice to have one thing that has gone 100 percent his way.

Next step: James comes out here to Sacramento early next week, for a round of tests and physicals to make extra extra sure he’s fit to donate. (We’re sure he is.) It’s hard to overstate what a welcome guest he will be.