Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210228
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
MARROW DRIVE GIVES HOPE
A BONE MARROW DRIVE Saturday could mean a new beginning for two Roanoke men suffering from leukemia and in need of bone marrow transplants.
The organizer of the Roanoke area's first bone marrow drive won't be on hand Saturday when Red Cross personnel conduct the simple blood tests that are the first step toward becoming a marrow donor.
John Harrison, who organized the drive from his hospital bed, must remain at the Roanoke Rehabilitation Center, where he is undergoing another round of chemotherapy to bring his leukemia into remission.
But the energetic 25-year-old is hopeful more than 300 people will agree to be listed on a national marrow registry.
"We're excited," he said. Although he had initially set a goal of 200 donors, he now believes 300 to 400 people will go for the screenings at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Roanoke at Grandin Road and Brandon Avenue.
The anticipated turnout represents hope not only for Harrison, but also for another Roanoke man, Joseph Lutz. Lutz, a 24-year-old Navy veteran, is undergoing chemotherapy at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem.
Both men need bone marrow transplants.
Although chances of matching up with an unrelated donor range from one in a hundred to one in a million, an expanding pool of donors means there is greater chance both young men will find someone with the ideal genetic makeup.
Except for the initial tissue-typing, a bone marrow donor does not incur any expense.
About 787,000 potential donors have signed up with the National Bone Marrow Program, submitting to the blood test necessary to identify the six human leukocyte antigens, or HLA, residing on the surface of a white blood cell.
But the cost of the tissue typing, between $30 and $60, has slowed the growth of the registry.
Harrison is hoping to change that.
"We've raised close to $4,000, which means the first 120 or 130 people will get tested for free," said Harrison. "After that it will be $60 per person."
Family and friends in his church and community are among the largest contributors, including the faculty, staff and students at Glenvar High School in Salem, where Harrison's father, Fenton "Spike" Harrison Jr. teaches history and coaches girls' sports.
Spike Harrison said his colleagues and students have generously contributed funds throughout his son's ordeal to pay for items such as emergency room visits, searches of donor registries and medicine that his insurance does not entirely cover.
Vicki Lutz is hoping to rally friends as well for Saturday's Lutz screening - even though there is still hope that she or her husband, Randy, may be a match for their son. Tests on the parents have been inconclusive.
"Who knows? Joe may have a match but it will help somebody," she said. "It makes everyone more aware."
She passes the time prosaically with her son. "We play cards, we play chess, we watch movies," said Lutz, who must wear a mask and wash her hands before entering her son's room. Unlike Harrison, Lutz has had little adverse reaction to the chemotherapy.
Although the two families did not know each other, both John Harrison and Joseph Lutz are graduates of Cave Spring High School.
Harrison went on to Elon College, where he graduated in 1990. He was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, last February while he was teaching public school in North Carolina.
Lutz went from high school into the Navy. He was stationed in Norfolk.
It was during Lutz's routine discharge examination last summer that Navy doctors discovered his white cell count was wildly awry.
First diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, Joseph Lutz now has ALL. But until Dec. 30, when he was hospitalized because his blood counts were extremely low and he suffered from fatigue, he had shown little sign of the disease.
"He has been great," his mother said.
After three courses of chemotherapy his last biopsy showed no cancer cells, indicating that he is in remission, she said. However, he remains in isolation at the VA center pending a final course of cancer-killing drugs.
Doctors prefer that bone marrow transplant candidates be in remission before they begin the operation to inject healthy bone marrow Although the bone marrow donation process is becoming more commonplace, officials with the national registry say they need more volunteers, particularly minority donors. Bone marrow donors and recipients generally match up along racial lines. from a donor. Doctors say a transplant is the only way to cure the disease.
The National Donor Marrow Program, located in Minneapolis, was established in 1987 to link leukemia patients with healthy donors. Donors must be in good health and be between ages 18 and 55.
Although the bone marrow donation process is becoming more commonplace, officials with the national registry say they need more volunteers, particularly minority donors. Bone marrow donors and recipients generally match up along racial lines. It is rare, for instance, that a black donor would be a match for a Hispanic or white recipient.
Donors do not have to have the same blood type as the recipient.
Although the tissue-typing test is simple, requiring only about two tablespoons of blood, experts say those who consider becoming a Harrison bone marrow donor should be aware that they are making a serious commitment.
If a series of tests shows the match is a good one, the donor is placed under local or general anesthesia for the extraction of the bone marrow from the back of the pelvic bone. There are no stitches and most donors go home the day of the procedure.
There will be some soreness on the backside for about a week to 10 days, but no other after-effects. The bone marrow regenerates in about two weeks.
While donors can back out after a match has been found, it can be life-threatening to the patient, particularly if he or she has begun the regimen that includes destruction of the diseased bone marrow.
Both Harrison and Lutz hope they will find a match soon so they can get on with the operation and their lives. Harrison wants to resume teaching and Lutz would like to follow in his father's footsteps as a locomotive engineer with Norfolk Southern Corp.
Both are planning to undergo their transplants at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, one of the foremost bone marrow transplant centers in the world.