Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404180121
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The 25-year-old Northern Virginia man takes nausea-inducing shots three times a week and drugs every day.
He sits through a three-hour blood transfusion at least every other week, which builds up his red counts to nonanemic levels and gives him the energy to help perform simple tasks such as walking and talking.
But while Rodrigues was at his Mclean, Va., home this week, fighting the leukemia that has been trying to kill him for almost two years, hundreds of Virginia Tech students were at a campus student center here, trying to save his life.
"I've been amazed at how the university community has come together," said Jon Perrelli, a 22-year-old Tech senior and vice president of the Student Government Association.
Perrelli, a long-time friend of Rodrigues and his family, was a coordinator for the campus blood drive on Wedneday - one of two campus drives he has helped coordinate in hopes of finding a bone marrow donor for a transplant that could save Rodrigues' life.
"There is a cure for leukemia," Perrelli said. "That's why we do this."
As the participating students discovered, the test for finding bone marrow donors typically takes about 15 minutes and requires no more than two tablespoons of blood.
Once blood is taken and tested, the results are entered into the National Marrow Donor Program's nationwide computer system that matches donors with their needy recipients.
Chances of matching patients with donors can be as low as one in 1,000, depending on the results of the blood test. Rodrigues' chances are as bad as they get: one in a million.
"We have over 1 million donors on file so far," said Deborah Liney, recruitment director for the Human Leukocyte Antigens Registry, the largest donor center for the national program. "Obviously, there's a lot of good people out there."
Liney said the NMDP has screened more than 11,000 possible donors for Rodrigues in blood drives held for him throughout the state. Although the donor program has found five potential donors for Rodrigues, she said that is no guarantee their bone marrow will be used.
Liney said each white blood cell contains six identifying markers - called antigens - which must make a nearly perfect match in order to qualify for a marrow transplant.
Once a match has been found, the donor is contacted for more in-depth medical testing and scrutiny before being selected.
"But you can't help without getting a blood test," Liney said.
Perrelli said the last blood drive for Rodrigues held in October was a great success, bringing in 882 possible donors.
"It was one of the largest one-day drives there has ever been," Perrelli said. "I had over 100 phone calls the next week from people who couldn't get through because the lines were too long."
Although the lines were not quite as long Wednesday, 614 students took time away from a warm spring day to be tested over a seven-hour period.
Dozens of student volunteers awaited them with smiling faces and helpful advice, easing them through medical questionnaires and walking them from table to table where different stages of the testing process took place.
At the end, enthusiastic "thank you's", glasses of orange juice and handfuls of cookies were waiting.
"It's a little slower than last time, but the enthusiasm is definitely still there," said Rodrigues' sister, Dora, a recent American University graduate who drove from Northern Virginia to help with the drive. She said her family has been heavily involved with all aspects of her brother's blood drives, including the $60-per-person cost.
How they are going to pay for it all, she still doesn't know.
"That's a good question," she said, displaying the warm smile she says the family has been using throughout her brother's ordeal. "We're doing our best and staying optimistic."
Just like her brother.
"He's very positive," she said. "I think he has his moments, but for the most part it doesn't seem to bring him down."
Rodrigues said her brother often makes light of his life-threatening disease, joking about his chemotherapy and not being worth all the trouble others have gone through to help save his life.
But as for the students giving blood Wednesday, their pensive expressions reflected that, to them, the blood drive was not a lighthearted event.
"It's a beautiful day outside and there's nothing hanging over me," said Beth Patton, a 19-year-old freshman. "When I was walking around outside, I was thinking how lucky I was. I'm glad to have the chance to maybe save someone's life."
by CNB