A local woman who is sharing her message of choosing positivity is racking up the followers on Tik Tok, gaining more than 100,000 people following her page, and is has decided to be a bone marrow donor for someone with leukemia.
Using the handle Ms. B Positive, Kellie Barhight, who is also a mom of two sets of twins and a lieutenant with the Stow Police Department, teaches veteran police officers and new recruits about mental health.
“I’ve had people who told me I saved their life today. and I do a lot of mental health instruction,” she said. “I believe in the glass half full and I believe in you really have to choose positivity.”
Barhight said she launched her Tik Tok page during a difficult time.
“It’s funny how the whole Tik Tok thing started. I dabbled in it as a grief journal. My mom died totally unexpectedly. It kinda started out as this make your bed’ thing because I was obviously dealing with grief. My four children were dealing with grief and I was like if I can just make my bed I’ve accomplished one thing today.”
Her handle also has a literal meaning, her blood type is B positive — and now she’s learned she’s 100 percent match for someone on the Be a Match Bone Marrow Registry and her donation could be their shot at remission.
“How could I not be a life vessel for this other human that is really in desperation and I would want it for me and I would want it for my kids so I was like, ‘yep let’s do this,'” she said.
Cancer for Barhight is personal, she lost her father to cancer at a young age.
So, in a couple weeks, she will travel to D.C. to have the procedure and she hopes her donation encourages others to find out of they’re a match for someone out there.
“We are a human race and sometimes I think we forget about each other,” she said. “There has to be more kindness and empathy because when you’re in it someday or if you’re ever in it wouldn’t you want the same to you?”
To learn more about the donor program visit Bethematch.org.