Donate to save a life

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Alexis King
  • 48th Fighter Wing Command Post
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  So often there are opportunities on base to volunteer for something. Sometimes it involves putting on a reflective vest and standing at a cross walk, at other times you may be setting up for an event, but I remember something I did that literally took five minutes of my time and I never thought that it would go any farther than that.

Years ago, at my first duty station, I was approached about giving a cheek swab so that it could be put into a Department of Defense database, and in the future, I could be asked to donate bone marrow if I came up as a match to someone in need. Considering that this would only take five minutes of my time and the fact that I could have the chance to help someone possibly, I said, "Why not!"

Now, let's fast forward to Christmas Eve 2009. The phone rings and it is the CW Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Program on the line. They informed me that I had come up as a match to someone who was ailing from cancer and asked if I would still be interested in donating. My answer was yes, of course. After answering a list of questions, the man on the phone explained to me that I would need to undergo some additional testing to ensure I was the most qualified candidate for donation. My tests were scheduled by the donation center for the week after Christmas at the base hospital. My blood tests came back, and I was given the "thumbs up" from the donation center to proceed.

According to the particular needs of the patient, I was not going to be doing a traditional bone marrow donation. What they needed to get from me is called Peripheral Blood Stem Cells. PBSC donation is a nonsurgical procedure that takes place at a blood center or outpatient hospital unit. For five days leading up to donation, you are given injections of a drug called Filgrastim to increase the number of blood-forming cells in your bloodstream. Your blood is then removed through a needle in one arm and passed through a machine that separates out the blood-forming cells. The entire process takes around five to six hours. The remaining blood is returned to you through the other arm, and your blood-forming cells are back to their normal levels within four to six weeks.

The next part of the process was a physical exam to be conducted in Washington,D.C. This was scheduled for February, but due to the massive amounts of snow in the D.C. area I was unable to fly there for this portion of the process. The donation center sent all of the requirements to the base hospital and the physical was conducted here in March. Next, it was time for me to donate.

My ticket was booked to Washington D.C. for April 16, 2010. The day before I was supposed to get on the plane, Iceland's volcano erupted. Well, this really messed up my travel plans, to say the least, and if I did not get there in time, the patient may not survive. Day after stress-filled day I would drive to the airport and try to get on any flight, but they kept getting cancelled. I was so worried that I was not going to be able to get there at all and donate! The donor center was working madly on a plan to get me there, and when flights finally resumed April 22, I was on my way. Once there, I was met by my grandmother and mother, who were flown to D.C. to be with me during the process. For the first four days, I would go into a pathology office in Virginia and the nurses would give me a shot of Filgrastim in each arm. The drug made me a bit sick, and I had to deal with some bone and muscle aches. On the fifth day, I was given my final injections and then hooked up to a machine that cycled my blood for about six hours. I had to be careful not to move for the entire process. Afterwards I felt pretty ill and spent the next few days recuperating.

All in all this was such a wonderful experience. If asked to do it again, I would in a heartbeat. The process was long and there were some uncomfortable moments for sure, but when you know that what you are doing is going to save someone's life, there is just no way that I could say no. Without the support of my family, the command post and my leadership, this would not have been possible. Everyone really bent over backwards to make this happen and I am grateful.