Port Austin woman gives gift of life with marrow donation – Huron Daily Tribune

By daniellenierenberg

One of the most important sacrifices a person can make is to offer the gift of life to another. Especially if they dont know whos receiving the gift, and they have to give up something they may need like the marrow in their bones.

Donating bone marrow to someone who is in distress, and may die without a transplant, is a selfless act. Blood diseases, such as leukemia, are horrific, causing tiredness, infections, and pain. A bone marrow transplant replaces damaged or diseased blood forming cells, also called stem cells, with healthy stem cells.

Those in need of a bone marrow transplant are put on a waiting list, because they need to be matched by a donor. Fortunately, there is a registry for those willing to donate their bone marrow.

Caitlin Stone-Webber of Port Austin was willing. She registered to be a donor while in college.

Back in 2011, I was a student at Central Michigan University, Stone-Webber said. There was a student who had a form of leukemia. They were doing a bone marrow drive, testing anyone who was willing to go on the registry, to see if there was a match on campus.

She was not compatible, but her name remained on the registry.

Its an international registry, Stone-Webber said. There are a lot of different groups that help build up this registry.

Five years ago, Stone-Webber received word she had matched. She went through a process of confirmation. Something happened on the recipients end, so the process wasnt completed. Two years later, the same thing happened. Earlier this year, she was contacted again. This time, the donation went through.

Upon receipt of the notification that shed matched, Stone-Webber was required to undergo a physical. The donation process is tiring, and the donor needs to be in good health.

The physical included checking her veins.

Even though its bone marrow, it no longer has to be hip surgery, Stone-Webber said. They can do whats called peripheral cell donation.

Peripheral blood stem celldonation is a method of collecting blood-forming cells for the transplant. The same blood-forming cells that are found in bone marrow are also found in the circulating (peripheral) blood. It is a procedure called apheresis.

They take your blood from one arm, Stone-Webber said. It goes through a machine, takes out your stem cells, and goes back in your other arm.

In addition to the physical, she also had to have injections that raised her stem cell count.

You do four days of injections, Stone-Webber said. And then the day of the procedure, you receive injections, as well.

The injections leading up to the procedure were given at her home.

Because of my size, I actually had to have two shots each day, one in each arm, Stone-Webber said. The nurse would come in, take my vitals, give the shots and then wait to make sure there was no reaction.

Although some people work throughout this stage, Stone-Webber took time off.

So I was able to just go to bed, she said. I was very tired, and my bones hurt. Thats where your bodys creating these extra stem cells ... in your bones. I was very aware of where every bone in my body was, but not at the same time. The first day it was in my legs. They hurt. The second day it was in my hips. One day it was in my toes. It was the strangest thing.

It was a normal part of the process.

They say to prepare for that, that your bones are going to hurt, Stone-Webber said.

She was told to take Tylenol for pain, as well as, oddly enough, Claritin, which relieves allergies.

They said they dont really know what part of the (Claritin) makes it work, but it works, Stone-Webber said.

The procedure took place at a hospital, although Stone-Webber isnt allowed to say where.

When you donate to someone, you stay anonymous until a year from the donation date, she said. I had to sign a confidentially document saying I could talk about the procedure I can talk about my experience. But I cant talk about where I donated.

Details on the identity of the recipient are unknown to her.

I know gender, Stone-Webber said. I know age. I know country. And, I know the type of leukemia. I didnt know what country they were in until post donation. Thats something I thought was real cool about being able to donate right now, is that with the world the way it is, to be able to help someone without knowing their political affiliation, or religion. None of that mattered. I was just helping another person.

Due to the fact that the bone marrow registry is international there are also national registries potential donors should be aware they may have to travel if they match. Stone-Webbers expenses, including travel, food, and lodging, were covered by the nonprofit organization the donation was set up through.

I was never billed for anything, Stone-Webber said.

All it cost her was time and a little discomfort.

The way I looked at it is, anyone can be sick for four or five days in order to save someones life, Stone-Webber said.

The actual donation took place in the course of one day. She was hooked up to a machine that recycled her blood. Due to her size her veins werent large enough for the procedure Stone-Webber required a catheter to be inserted in her jugular vein.

I could feel the catheter when I swallowed, she said. And when they pulled it out, I could feel a little bit of discomfort. For a couple days afterward, there were times I was a little uncomfortable.

Once the procedure started, Stone-Webber was confined to a hospital bed. She was given medication that allowed her to remain still, so the machine could recycle her blood.

It went in and out the same port, she said. I was hooked up to the machine for five hours, and it cycled my blood through the machine four and a half times. It was kind of cool to think someone has invented this machine that can cycle blood. Because of the injections, my body was still making stem cells, so that machine could continue to get out everything this recipient could need.

A bone marrow transplant is beneficial to those receiving the new stem cells. In some cases it may even provide a cure for their disease.

Its mostly for blood-related cancers, Stone-Webber said. There may be other blood-related disorders and diseases that it could help with. In some cases the donation is a treatment to kind of stall things. In others, its a cure. I was told the day of the donation, that my donation would be a cure that when the patient received my donated stem cells, it would cure their leukemia providing its a successful donation and their body accepts it.

The bone marrow registry can be accessed through a number of nonprofit organizations, including http://www.dkms.org and http://www.bethematch.org, which Stone-Webber worked with.

As of now, she knows her stem cells have been received by the recipient, but has no idea of the outcome. At the end of the year required by her confidentiality agreement, she would like to know whether or not they were affective. After all, her stem cells are now in someone else.

I think we now connect in a different way than most people would, Stone-Webber said. I think I would like the opportunity to know how theyre doing.

That connection is a bone marrow transplant, the gift of life. Stone-Webber would do it again.

For further information on bone marrow transplants and the bone marrow registry, email Stone-Webber at caitlinstone22@gmail.com or visit http://www.dkms.org or http://www.bethematch.org.

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Port Austin woman gives gift of life with marrow donation - Huron Daily Tribune