On being a bone marrow donor... 'Tis the season

 

 HALLIE EPHRON: On the day after Thanksgiving, "How to Save a Life,” an op-ed piece that my sister Delia Ephron wrote, was published in The New York Times. In it she shared her experience receiving the bone marrow donation that cured her of acute myeloid leukemia (AML is a blood cancer, a disease of thee marrow which produces your body's blood supply). 

The same the disease killed my sister Nora ten years ago. AML also killed my dear husband Jerry. He had a transplant. It gave him a fighting chance, but it wasn’t enough.

Delia remembers facing frightening odds when she was diagnosed and given four months to live. A bone marrow transplant held out the only hope.

She says, “A bone-marrow transplant, for the patient, is a grueling procedure that involves wiping the diseased marrow clean with powerful chemotherapy and transfusing stem cells from a healthy person who is genetically matched. But for the person who makes the donation, it is not difficult."

Her essay describes how Be the Match and organizations like it (there are more than 50 worldwide, and they all cooperate) enable people to register to become a marrow donor.

Delia says, “You can register and never get called, or one day, with thrilling unexpectedness, you will get a phone call, as my donor Casey did, to tell you that there is an extremely sick person waiting for you to save his or her life.” The prognosis is best when the donor is young, and doctors are most likely to request a donor under the age of 34.

To register, visit the web site (BeTheMatch.org), complete a brief form, and receive a kit in the mail. Swab the inside of your mouth as instructed and return the swab in the envelope provided. It's super simple

Donors aren’t paid, but organizations like Be the Match cover all costs, reimburse for lost wages or expenses during donations, and arrange for everything like a checkup to make sure donors are healthy.

Since the Covid pandemic began in 2020, the number of people who have registered but then refused to donate when called has risen. It's unfortunate but understandable. But as a result, right now there's even more of an urgent need.

I’m sharing this information in the hopes that in this season of giving, you can share it with someone who might give the gift of life to a stranger.

Quoting my sister: “During the holidays, if you are under 40, register to be a blood stem cell donor. If you are having a baby, donate your umbilical cord to a cord blood bank. Talk to your OB — umbilical cords, rich with lifesaving stem cells, are otherwise, as one of my doctors put it, thrown in the trash. 

"Give these gifts to a stranger. That’s the holiday spirit. If you have children or grandchildren in their 20s or 30s, when they ask you what you want for a present, tell them that you want them to register. Tell them that, for the holidays, you want them to save a life.”