CHEYENNE Had it not been for a single bone marrow transplant, the Day of Giving would never have started.

Its a bone marrow transplant that saved founder Greta Morrows life, and what inspired her to launch a community charity event that encourages, among other things, the importance of donating blood, tissue, bone marrow and organs.

Greta is a prime example of somebody who is a survivor because of someone being on the bone marrow donation registry, said Caroline Veit, a longtime Day of Giving volunteer and a past president for the event. Its life saving. When somebody is at the end of their treatment options for blood cancer, a bone marrow transplant can be the key for their survival.

One of the most compelling reasons to sign up as a bone marrow donor at the Day of Giving now in its 12th year is not only is it capable of saving a life, but the process of actually donating is fairly straightforward, no different than giving blood something the Day of Giving also offers onsite.

Jamie Spradlin, a 22-year-old teacher at Hobbs Elementary School in Cheyenne, learned that fact firsthand late last year, when she was called on to donate bone marrow.

It was at a Relay for Life event about four years ago, they had a booth and they were explaining, Would you like to save a life; do you want to know how? And I was with a group and all of us signed up, Spradlin said. It had to have been October or November of last year when they called me and said Hey, youre actually a match for someone.

Many people who register as potential bone marrow donors never get such a call. Thats because unlike blood, which falls into one of four types plus a positive or negative Rh factor, a bone marrow can be much harder to find. Only about 30 percent of patients looking for a bone marrow match can even find one in their own family the rest have to hope a stranger in the national donor registry happens to match them, according to the nonprofit Institute for Justice.

Only about 2 percent of Americans belong to the national bone marrow registry, and at least 3,000 people die each year because they cannot find a matching donor. The odds are worse for minorities, since bone marrow type is based partly on ethnic background while Caucasians can find an unrelated donor 75 percent of the time, the percentage drops to the 40s for Hispanic and Asian patients, and 25 percent for African Americans.

What happens if you do turn out to be a match for someone?

First they asked if I was still interested in donating, and I said yes, so then they had to wait on the person I was donating to to make sure it would all work out, Spradlin said.

In December 2016, she had to take a physical to ensure she was healthy enough to donate. Be The Match, the national bone marrow registry, paid all the expenses of her testing as well as travel.

They let me choose where I went for the physical, and my sister lives in Florida, so I went to do it there, Spradlin said. A few days after that they called and said everything was great, so then I went back down to Florida for the actual donation.

The donation process takes nearly a week of preparation. Twice a day, for five days, Spradlin said she went to a clinic to receive shots that caused her bones to produce more marrow stem cells.

The first day wasnt bad, but as I continued to get them every day thats when I started noticing my back and knees getting sore, she said. You know when you go to the gym and the next day your muscles are sore? Its just like that, but with your bones.

But that was the only real discomfort, she said, and given the stakes, it wasnt a tough call to keep going. For the donation itself, Spradlin underwent a process known as apheresis, where blood is removed from the body, the marrow stem cells are separated out, and blood is then returned.

Its kind of like donating blood. They had a needle in each of my arms, she said. One needle takes out the blood, a machine separates the stem cells from the blood and then the other needle puts the blood back in your arm.

Two months after the donation, Spradlin got an email from Be The Match informing her the recipient of her bone marrow was doing well Spradlins bone marrow had taken root, and the recipients body was regaining its ability to produce healthy blood cells.

Due to confidentiality concerns, Spradlin still doesnt know whose life she saved. It wont be until a year has passed that Be The Match offers to introduce donors to recipients.

All they told me was that she was a female, 41 years old and had some type of blood cancer, Spradlin said. But even knowing just that much, she added, I would absolutely do it again. It was an easy process to save someones life, and I think its crazy not many people sign up to become donors because its not a hard process.

I mean, I got to see my sister twice in Florida and they paid for everything, she added. Frankly, I felt lucky I got to be this persons donor.

How to help

This years community-wide Day of Giving will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, May 12, at the Kiwanis Community House in Lions Park. A youth event will take place there the day before, May 11, from 3:30-6:30 p.m.

There are seven ways to help on the Day of Giving:

Day of Giving sorts and delivers all donations to local agencies.

For more information, visitCheyenneDayofGiving.org.

James Chilton is the Wyoming Tribune Eagles local government reporter. He can be reached atjchilton@wyomingnews.comor 307-633-3182. Follow him on Twitter at @JournoJChilton.

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Cheyenne's Day of Giving provides an opportunity to save a life - Wyoming Business Report