Campus Bone Marrow Drive Recruits Donors (Video)
By Ryan Lavis Stony Brook University Medical Center called on students and faculty to register for the first campus-wide bone marrow drive. Its purpose is to help individuals with blood cancer diseases, such as Leukemia or Lymphoma, receive possible life-saving bone marrow transplants. “We need the student body to join the registry,” said Kathleen Noone, Nurse Manager, Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Stony Brook University Medical Center. “Without doing so we’re not giving people the hope that there’s someone out there who’s a match.” According to Noone, while treatments such as chemotherapy can help treat blood cancers temporarily, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is often necessary for blood cancer patients to remain permanently cured of the disease. “When a person donates their bone marrow, it can really help save a life,” Noone said. “But finding the right match is literally like looking for a needle in a haystack.” Stony Brook University Medical Center patient Alex Mele, a 16-year-old with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), has had hundreds of people register as donors for him, but none were matches. Noone decided to expand the registry drive from the medical center on East campus, to West campus, where more students are likely to participate and increase the likelihood of finding a match for Alex and other blood cancer patients at SBUMC. “Both sides of campus do great work, but need to do more to connect,” Noone said. “By holding this drive at the SAC we’re hoping to bridge that gap, and get students on board.” Noone organized the three-day drive with help from DKMS, the world’s largest bone marrow donor center, and “Prevail,” an organization that helps families of young patients in need of bone marrow transplants. Noone attributed the large numbers of registrants to the efforts of DKMS, which waived the $65 tissue swabbing fee and made it free for students to register. Prevail also donated gift baskets that were raffled off to help pay for the drive. “Normally students don’t have two nickels to rub together, so having DKMS offset the cost was huge for us,” Noone said. Stigmas associated with bone marrow donations, such as large needles and painful procedures, remain the biggest obstacles to getting people to register. “The biggest hurdle we have is fear,” Noone said, who assured people there are less painful ways to donate bone marrow. Rather than collect bone marrow through the pelvic bone, which is a surgical procedure done under anesthesia, a donor can opt to take medication daily for four-to-five days to increase blood stem cells. The donor’s blood is then taken from one arm, passed through a machine that separates the cells used in the transplant, and returned through the other arm. “A lot less painful, and a lot less scary,” Noone said. Students who did register, like Jonathan Caban, a sophomore history major at the university, had no hold ups about donating. “My close friend lost her father last week to Lymphoma, and it just put things into perspective for me, so I decided to donate,” Caban said. |
