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Aplastic Anemia News - Return to News Menu
Bone marrow drive to save a life
BY LINN E. CAROLEO, STAFF WRITER
May 23, 2005 - Ione Bulow is battling her second bout of acute leukemia and will be having a bone marrow transplant. Bulow and a friend are holding a bone marrow drive Saturday in a search for donors for others in need of the procedure. Photo by Jacob Lopez
Having experienced her sister dying of lymphoma in 2003 and having had chemotherapy herself to treat her first bout of acute leukemia, Ione Lusch Bulow seems unfazed that she once again is bald.
"This is the second time I have had to have chemotherapy,” said the Yuma woman. "I was in remission for about a year after the last treatment, but then I felt a lump in my throat earlier this year and I just knew it was the leukemia again."
Because of the return of the cancer, Bulow is now forced to get a bone marrow transplant in order to survive.
Although a bone marrow match has been located for her, she only feels a little relieved at the moment.
"The donor is kept a secret from me for a year," she said. " I know it is a woman and that she is Caucasian, and I know she already went in for a second blood test, so that is really positive. But there is always that chance that this won't work, but I try not to think about that right now."
Bone marrow transplants were once considered a last resort for leukemia patients, but are now being used to treat many more diseases at an early onset stage, according to the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link Web site.
Survival rates after the procedure have increased and recovery time for the patient has been decreased since this procedure was first attempted in 1968.
There are several types of bone marrow transplant procedures, but the kind Bulow is looking at is the allogeneic type.
Allogeneic bone marrow transplants are where a healthy donor gives up some bone marrow to be placed into the diseased person in order to replace damaged bone marrow in the recipient's body.
Bone marrow gets damaged by cancerous diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, testicular cancer, myeloma and others. Bone marrow is a soft, spongelike material found inside large bones in the body, like thigh bones, hip bones or the breast bone.
Healthy bone marrow helps the patient's body replenish red blood cells and fight infections and it assists in blood clotting.
According to the National Cancer Institute, survival rates for allogeneic bone marrow transplants range between 25 to 65 percent after five years.
To find a match for a bone marrow transplant, a blood test must be performed and the blood must be analyzed on 12 different points, Bulow said.
"The best thing is to get a match on as many of those criteria as possible," she said. "The only way to get a 12 out of 12 match is to have a fraternal twin. But it is possible to get an 11 out of 12 match, which is what they have found for me.
"The more points that a donor matches on when the blood is broken down, the more chance that the bone marrow transplant will work out," she continued. "If this works, I will have a better chance of survival."
Bulow's blood match was located through the National Bone Marrow Bank.
In an effort to get more entries and help others as she will be helped, Bulow and her friend, Debra Bordges, are organizing a bone marrow blood drive in Yuma in order to "pay it forward."
"Because someone is willing to donate their bone marrow to help save Ione, that is why we planned this with this bone marrow drive. We hope Yumans will step up to the plate and donate blood and sign that waiver that allows us to enter them into the National Bone Marrow Bank," Bordges said.
"We are having this blood drive in order to find people that may match with the next person who comes along and may need a bone marrow match. Because I was lucky and found a donor is no reason to cancel this drive. It is important to keep adding to the bone marrow bank," said Bulow.
Bordges added, that her and Ione's faith is in the Lord and that she feels all people are responsible to try and save a life if they can.
Bulow is the third local resident in recent months to seek a bone marrow match.
Isidro Lopez, a San Luis, Ariz., firefighter who has aplastic anemia, has found four possible bone marrow transplant donors. However, it appears he may not need to go through the procedure after all.
"Every week I go in and get my blood checked, and so far the white blood cell counts are high and that is a good thing," Lopez said. "As long as I don't have a relapse with my disease in the next year, I won't need to get a bone marrow transplant."
Lance Cpl. Christopher LeBleu, who was diagnosed with acute liver failure early this year, had a bone marrow drive in early April and was able to find a match that very day.
"That bone marrow drive was a real success, because we had 210 people show up to give blood and get registered in the National Bone Marrow Donor Bank and we were able to find a match for LeBleu," said his case worker.
She added that the success of any bone marrow drive relates directly to how many people turn up and give a blood sample.
It won't hurt, it's just a little pinprick, promise Bulow and Bordges of the upcoming bone marrow blood drive that will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Bible Baptist Church, 1780 E 24th St.
"We will have free cookies and juice and I am trying to get some entertainment for us," Bordges said. "I just want people to come out and get their blood tested. This is for a good cause, it is to save someone's life. We need minorities most of all."
Because there are so few minorities registered with the National Bone Marrow Bank, they will be tested for free. There is a $65 charge for Caucasians.
For more information about the upcoming blood drive or entering the National Bone Marrow Bank, call Bordges 783-6115.
For more information on bone marrow transplants, visit http://www.bmtinfonet.org/
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: BONE MARROW DONOR DRIVE
WHEN: 9 A.M. TO 1 P.M. SATURDAY
WHERE: BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH, 1780 E 24TH ST.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: CALL DEBRA BORDGES AT 783-6115.
WILL IT HURT?: "JUST A LITTLE PINPRICK"
Linn E. Caroleo can be reached at lcaroleo@yumasun.com or 539-6851.
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