September 30,1992
Page 12
Fight for survival
Student searches for life-saving donor
Jennifer Hudson
The Pendulum
Julie Thomas is a bright and
talented Elon ^student who had a
wonderful future to look forward
to. Now there’s just one ugly
cloud hanging over her.
A year ago on a Friday night
Julie went dancing in a night
club. On Saturday she and her
■ mother went shopping all day and
she felt great. By Monday
morning Julie couldn’t even get
out of bed.
Julie Thomas has leukemia.
It began with a sore throat,
dizziness and fatigue. Thomas and
her mother, a registered nurse,
thought she had strep throat. The
reality of the situation turned out
to be far worse.
Thomas underwent several
chemotherapy treatments and has
been virtually confined to her
home. Since finding out that she
has leukemia, Thomas has been
admitted to the hospital three
times. Each visit has lasted more
than 50 days.
Before she entered the
hospital the last time, Thomas’
hair had grown two inches.
Within four days of the
chemotherapy treatment,
however, her hair fell out again.
Thonias is presently in the
hospital and has been for the past
seven weeks.
Jennifer Hudson
The Pendulum
A combination blood drive
and bone marrow drive will be
held on October 20 at the Elon
College Community Church.
Bone marrow donors are needed
for Julie Thomas and John
Harrison, who both have
leukemia.
Thomas is an Elon student
on medical withdrawal. Harrison
is a 1990 Elon graduate.
Participants in the bone
marrow drive will have a small
vial of blood drawn by local Red
Cross approved mcdical
Thoftias says one of the
most difficult things to get used
to is being away from her friends
and people her own age. She says
she can’t wait to get back to
Elon. She had wanted to return
this fall but her health didn’t
improve over the summer as she
had hoped.
Since Thomas isn’t able to
return to Elon this year, she has
tried to incorporate Elon right
into her hospital room by setting
up her microscope.
Thomas is a biology major
and was a biology lab assistant
before her medical withdrawal.
Although she’s usually too weak
to use her microscope she still
likes having it in her room.
Thomas needs a transplant to
replace the bone marrow she lost
during her treatments. Thomas is
an only child and neither parent is
suitable. There is not a match in
the National Marrow Donor
Program Registry (NMDPR).
On August 16, the American
Red Cross in Charlotte screened
potential donors at St. Andrews
United Methodist Church, where
Thomas is a member. No donor
was found.
So the search continues.
Thomas knows she’s in desperate
need of a donor and continues to
keep her spirits up. She compares
the search for a bone marrow
match to playing bingo.
personnel. Roche Biomedical
Labs will test the samples to
determine the volunteer’s Human
Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) tissue
type.
The type is then listed in the
National Marrow Donor Program
Registry (NMDPR). If there is a
match, then the person has the
option to be a donor.
According to an NMDPR
pamphlet. Overcoming
Ignorance, approximately
500,000 people are now listed in
the national registry. Only 14
percent of those listed are
minorities who have virtually no
chance of finding a match.
I
^ If anyone has
the chance to do this,
it's the opportunity of
a lifetime because
you're giving them a
great gift. 99
Lee Piccirillo
Student
“Every single person counts
when looking for a bone marrow
donor because a match is so hard
to find. It’s like playing bingo.”
Evidently other leukemia
patients feel the same way. In a
pamphlet put out by the National
Marrow Donor program called
The Chance of a Lifetime, Larry
Lundeen, a leukemia patient who
was matched with a donor
summed it up as “I’m the one
who won the lottery.”
Julie Thomas is not the only
student at Elon who has had to
deal with the frightening disease
of leukemia.
Lee Piccirillo faced leukemia
when she saw her older brother
struggle through it. After blood
screening Piccirillo found out
that she was a suitable donor for
her brother.
The National Marrow Donor
Program Registry has been
responsible for finding a matched
donor for more than 1,000
patierits. Of the matches, 65 were
for minorities.
Because a person’s marrow is
a particular HLA type, thousands
of possible combinations exist.
Bone marrow type is inherited the
same way as skin color hair
color, and eye colw.
Since ussue types are
genetically controlled, people
usually find a match within their
family. If this does not work then
they must find a match within
the barriers of their own race.
“I’m glad it was me and not
my little brother because he was
only ten at the time and it was >
the most painful thing I have
ever done. I’d do it all over again
because my older brother is still
alive because of it today,”
Piccirillo said.
Piccirillo’s brother is. now
one hundred percent healthy and
has begun his career in Boston,
leading a normal life.
“He values life more and
we’re so much closer,” Piccirillo
said.
After the bone marrow
transplant, he had to remain in
the hospital for six months and
was confined to his home for
another six months. Because his
immune system had been
destroyed through chemotherapy
treatments, people who visited
Piccirillo’s brother had to wear a
mask and gloves.
This is virtually the same
ordeal Thomas will have to face
after receiving her bone marrow.
A small price to pay to live the
rest of her life.
When asked what she would
say to someone thinking of
donating bone marrow, Piccirillo
said, “If anyone has the chance to
do this, it’s the opportunity of a
lifetime because you’re giving
them a great gift. It’s a week of
pain for the donor, but you’re
giving someone else the rest of
because tissue types do not cross
ethnic borders.
Caucasians has a one in
18,000 chance of finding a match
from the registry, but minorities
have a lesser chance due to the
low number of registered
minority donors.
The initial blood screening
test costs $60. Donors pay half
of the fee and the remaining $30
is provided by the National
Marrow Donor Program for
Caucasians.
The full $60 for the blood
donation and screening is covered
by the National Registry for
African Americans/ Hispanics,
their life.”
Like Piccirillo’s brother,
Thomas needs this chance at life
and will continue the battle.
Karen Gutsche, a friend of
Thomas’ describes her as “a
fighter. She tries to keep her
spirits up but it’s not a situation
where she can be happy all the
time.”
The Elon College Fall Blood
Drive will be held October 20 at
the Elon College Community
Church. There will be a separate
area set up to screen for possible
donor matches for Thomas and
Harrison. Harrison taught one
year of elementary physical
education in Beaufort, North
Carolina before finding out that
he has leukemia.
According to the pamphlet,
The Chance of a Lifetime, the
NMDPR has been built through
the efforts of several parents and
family members.
Despite their persisting
efforts, many of their loved ones
never had the chance at life
because a matched donor could
not be found.
Please don’t let Thomas or
Harrison add to these heart-
wrenching numbers. Participate
in the blood screening on October
20. You have nothing to lose.
They have a lifetime.
Help them win the lottery.
testing
Asian Americans and Native
Americans.
Bone marrow donations can
also cure Hodgkin’s disease,
aplast'ic anemia and
myelodysplasia. Even breast
cancer can be treated with bone
marrow transplants.
Over 9,000 victims die each
year from diseases that could be
cured with bone marrow
transplants. That is equivalent to
25 deaths a day.
The problem is a lack of
donors. Could you afford to give
up a week of your life to give
someone else a lifetime?
The choice is yours.
Elon blood drive will offer bone marrow