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Alternative to blood donation: donate marrow
Stem cells found in bone marrow can save lives
By Claire Stencel
February 22, 2005 - For those who are unable to donate blood, due to health problems like anemia, there is another way to help people without having to go as far as donating an organ.
Bone marrow donation is a potentially life-saving treatment for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other blood diseases.
Patients with blood diseases who recieve a transplant of healthy blood-forming cells from a marrow donor have a better chance at healing and overcoming their diseases.
According to the National Marrow Donor Program, bone marrow is one of only three sources of blood-forming cells.
The other two sources are PBSC donations (in which blood-forming cells are collected from a blood donation) and umbilical cord blood. According to the Bonfils Blood Center Web site, "each year, thousands of people are diagnosed with a blood-related disease, including leukemia and aplastic anemia. A marrow (stem cell) transplant is often their only chance of survival"
The NMDP's require marrow donors to be between 18 and 60 years old and meet health guidelines. To become eligible to donate marrow, a small blood sample is taken and tested to determine the donor's tissue type.
Donors are also required to complete a questionnaire about their health and sign a consent form to have their tissue type listed on the NMDP registry. This registry can be searched by doctors when they need to find a donor with a certain tissue type for their patients.
Tissue type is inherited, so patients need marrow from donors of their same race and ethnicity.
At this time, there is a special need for donors who identify themselves as black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Latino.
Ethnically diverse donors comprise only 25 percent of the NMDP registry at this time.
Marrow is not collected and stored, so the donation does not take place until a patient is found whose type matches an individual donor. Unlike blood donation, marrow donation is technically a surgical procedure.
The procedure is performed in a hospital, and the donor is given anesthesia. Donors can choose between general anesthesia, which puts the donor to sleep during the procedure, or local anesthesia, which allows the donor to stay awake but not feel pain.
To get the marrow, doctors use special, hollow needles to withdraw liquid marrow from the donor's pelvic bones.
The average amount of marrow drawn out is about 1,000 milliliters (ml), or about one quart.
The amount of marrow withdrawn from the donor is dependent on the size of the donor and recipient. The marrow is completely replaced by the donor's body within four to six weeks.
As would be expected, the NMDP says that marrow donors can expect to feel some soreness in their lower back for a few days or longer.
As with blood donation, tiredness can also be a lingering effect.
In a few cases, donors have reported some difficulty walking, but most donors are back to their usual routine in a few days.
The center where the donation took place will follow up with the donor to make sure that there are no complications or problems.
The marrow recipient, after undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation treatment to destroy their diseased marrow, has the healthy donor cells injected directly into their bloodstream. The cells travel to the marrow, where they begin to function and multiply.
The blood drives held on campus will occasionally offer students the opportunity to be typed for free and registered on the national bone marrow donation registry.
Otherwise, anyone interested in donating can go to their local Bonfils Blood Center. The cost of typing is $30 at Bonfils.
For more information about bone marrow donation, visit the National Marrow Donor Program Web site at www.marrow.org or the Bonfils Blood Center Web site at www.bonfils.org.
Seven-hundred down, 4,300 miles to go
By JANELLE RUCKER
Gazette Staff Writer
The state's Buckeye Trail has seen many hikers, but none the likes of Robin Grapa and her mother, Patty Laatsch.
Feb. 4, Robin, 26, and Patty, 48, set out from Camp Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Del., and are following the American Discovery Trail across the country to raise $1 million and awareness for the Aplastic Anemia & MDS International Foundation
By mid-October, the two plan to reach the trail's end at Point Reyes National Seashore in San Francisco. In the end, they're hoping their footwork will bring the organization a few steps closer to providing better awareness of, and more information for, people who struggle with rare bone marrow diseases.
A hike with a cause
Seven years ago, Robin lay in a Wisconsin hospital bed while a priest read her last rites. (Related: Video report)
She suffered from aplastic anemia, a rare bone marrow disease in which the bone marrow stops making enough blood-forming stem cells.
"Basically, my body stopped making blood," Robin said.
After being diagnosed with aplastic anemia at age 18, Robin received treatment in the form of a four-hour horse serum IV drip and has since gotten better, though not without scary moments.
"I'm a miracle case," Robin said.
It wasn't until Robin's doctor told her she was in remission that she looked back on her disease and realized how privileged she was.
"I thought, 'I'm lucky to be alive. I've got to do something,'" she said.
While figuring out a plan of action to celebrate her life and bring awareness to a disease that she feels needs more attention, Robin's husband, Adam, joked that they "pack up and walk to Hollywood."
It was then the hike across America idea was born.
Patty was the first and only person Robin called when needing a partner, joking that a trip like the one she was planning could ruin a friendship - but she knew her mother would love her regardless.
For eight months, the pair will hike across the country, collecting money and funny stories along the way. So far, they have raised $82,842.
Robin is counting on donations through the walk's Web sites, fundraisers along the route and corporate sponsors such as 4imprint, where she works as a creative designer for pharmaceutical company Celgene.
The fundraiser not only has meaning for Robin, but also her mother.
Patty can remember when her daughter was in the hospital and she made a deal with God. She prayed and promised God "if He just gave me one more day with her, I'd do whatever," Patty said.
So when Robin came up with the idea to hike across the country, Patty didn't hesitate to join her.
"I believe in it just as much as she does," Patty said.
Friendly faces along the way
The mother-daughter team relies on generous people along the way who open up their homes and hearts.
In Ross County, the pair came across "Trail Angels" Connie and Mike Snyder in Richmond Dale.
The Snyders are no strangers to helping long-distance hikers, Mike said, as they provide assistance to an average of two hikers a year.
"Everybody has a story," he said.
The two got started when Connie was a postmaster in Londonderry and dealt with the mail drops of long-distance hikers. Now, the two are trail maintainers on the Buckeye Trail.
Robin and Patty have met others along the way, including Jeff and Susan Ott, of West Virginia, who lost their 13-year-old daughter to aplastic anemia.
"They are very inspirational," Patty said. "They've turned their grief into something positive."
The Otts put the two in a hotel one night of their trip, and Jeff walked 50 miles of the trail with them. They also visited their daughter's grave.
"That was a very special moment for us all," Robin said.
People they meet along their journey ask all the time what they can do to help, Robin said, and she tells them to just donate.
"We have all the gear we need. We have all the food we need. Just donate to the foundation," she said.
700 down, 4,300 to go
By crossing into Ross County, the pair passed the 700-mile mark of their trek. "It's been wonderful through Ohio," Robin said.
The pair is traveling through southern Ohio on part of the Buckeye Trail which goes through Tar Hollow State Forest, Pike State Forest and Scioto Trail State Forest. Tuesday, Robin and Patty hiked from the Londonderry area to Mapleberry Farms in Pike County.
With a goal of 20 miles per day, they plan to continue southwest to Cincinnati, then head to Kentucky and Indiana.
Doubts
Outsiders have expressed doubts in the pair's mission, in both their ability to complete the 5,000-mile trail and to reach their fundraising goal.
"No, it's not (impossible)," Robin said. "We're walking well over 1 million steps. If I have to walk back the other way, I will."
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