THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 27, 1996 TAG: 9603260355
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
When Steve Warner's older brother Jim got sick with pancreatic cancer several years ago, the Coast Guard petty officer started donating blood. To date, he's given more than 20 pints.
He considers them small gifts compared to his latest medical contribution - a liter of bone marrow. The precious fluid was a one-in-a-million lottery win for a 15-year-old boy who has leukemia.
``Steve was one of our more energetic donors,'' said Sherry Challenor, who manages bone marrow recruitment programs in the region for the American Red Cross. ``I don't think he ever had second thoughts, or doubted that he would be a match.''
Warner first found out about a Department of Defense bone marrow registration drive in 1993 at Northwest Naval Security Activity in Chesapeake, where he was stationed.
He thought, ``I give blood; why not do this, too?''
The day he registered, he said, he was one of about 50 sailors and guardsmen who put their name on the list as prospective donors. All the volunteers' names are given to the National Marrow Donor Program, which is based in Minneapolis.
Department of Defense armed forces members who volunteer may be able to have the necessary preliminary tests done through the military. But, since Warner is in the Coast Guard, which is part of the Department of Transportation, he was referred to the Red Cross.
Challenor coordinated the scheduling of Warner's tests, which were done at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, and the ``harvesting'' of his bone marrow, which was done at the Medical College of Virginia on March 12.
Why did it take three years from the time he registered as a donor?
``Because, while there are more than 2 million volunteers' names on the national registry, finding a perfect match is hard to do,'' Challenor said. ``There are about 100,000 people worldwide who need bone marrow transplants and, nationally, about 2,000 active searches are done each day.''
Once Warner was notified last December that he was a potential match, a detailed medical history was done and testing began - blood tests, X-rays, EKG.
He attended an information briefing, where he was told that what he was going through was like carrying a baby, Challenor said. His bone marrow was precious cargo and, until it could be delivered, he should not do anything to jeopardize his health.
Once the family of the recipient was notified that there was a good match - about three weeks before the scheduled transplant - the teenager had to undergo 10 days of total body radiation to try to kill the cancer cells.
The National Marrow Donor Program began in 1986, and bone marrow is considered an organ, Challenor said. Transplantation is still expensive, costing between $100,000 to $250,000; all costs to both recipients and donors fall on the recipients.
Warner won't know for a couple of weeks how the teenager who received his bone marrow is doing. The two may correspond through the Red Cross, but they must remain anonymous correspondents for a year. Challenor will be notified within 30 days as to whether or not the transplant ``took.''
The harvesting of Warner's marrow was done under general anesthesia; the operation lasted about 1 1/2 hours. The liter of marrow he donated was about the maximum that can be given at one time, yet that amount is only 3 percent to 5 percent of a person's total bone marrow, and it can reproduce itself in one to three weeks.
``It was my first hospital experience ever,'' said Warner, 30. His father is a California pediatrician.
``But, once they called me and told me I was a potential donor, I knew it would happen. Good things always come my way. If a plane crashed and there was only one survivor, it would be me.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by HUY NGUYEN, The Virginian-Pilot
In addition to donating a liter of bone marrow, Steve Warner, a
Coast Guard petty officer, has in the past given more than 20 pints
of blood. Warner won't know for a couple of weeks how the teenager
who received his bone marrow is doing.
by CNB