Marrow donor registry planned for firefighter could help recipients worldwide
SPRINGFIELD — A Be the Match registry drive planned
for November, organized in the name of local firefighter Levi Parker,
will help bone marrow recipients worldwide who are still seeking a donor
match.
The drive is a collaboration between Rutland Regional Medical Center (RRMC) and Be The Match national registry program.
Parker,
who was traveling to Boston on Monday, Oct. 24 for another treatment,
said in a telephone interview that it has been 61 days since his
transplant, and that his is “doing pretty good.”
“It’s really amazing how the community is coming together for one person,” he said. “I really appreciate it, that’s for sure.”
Parker,
who lives in Springfield, was diagnosed on June 23, 2016 at age 21 with
Aplastic Anemia, a rare blood disease, and short telomeres. He was
working full-time and serving as a firefighter with the West
Weathersfield Volunteer Fire Department (WWVFD) at the time. He was
active in the Men’s Golf League and softball league, and enjoying time
with friends and family, he wrote in a testimonial he provided to RRMC
and Be The Match.
“Immediately I was isolated from friends, family
and co-workers as my body no longer produced red blood cells or
platelets,” Parker said. “My only hope for survival was a bone marrow
transplant.”
He has since been treated with a bone marrow
transplant in Boston, and has received blood transfusions weekly,
sometimes twice a week, since then. Now he returns weekly to Boston with
his family for follow-up appointments for the next month. He is hopeful
that after this month, he will only need to go back once a month.
Parker said he is “progressing well,” with strict limitations due to a suppressed immune system.
He also said that he is grateful for the Be the Match
registry, which provided him with the possibility of more than one
donor.
“I will be forever grateful to the young woman who cared
enough to give someone she didn’t even know the opportunity to live,” he
wrote.
Parker also expressed gratitude for his family, including
his grandfather, his mother and her employer, Young’s Propane, for
hosting the donor registry drive, spreading awareness and allowing him
to reach out and show “how easy it is to save a life.”
His
community and firefighter family has rallied around him since the
diagnosis, recently hosting a fundraiser dinner to help with medical and
travel expenses.
A Be The Match Marrow Donor registry is planned
for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, November 5 at the Veterans of Foreign
Wars (VFW) building at 191 River St. in Springfield.
All community
members are invited to become part of the registry, which offers bone
marrow or stem cell matches to people in need of transplants when
battling leukemia, lymphoma or other blood diseases.
Registration
is simple, requiring paperwork and a cheek swab. No blood is taken at
registration, according to a press release from Kerry Ellis, program
coordinator for the RRMC Marrow Donor Program.
Ellis said on
Monday that the donor drive is being organized in Parker’s name and in
recognition of his recent transplant, but may benefit anyone in need of a
transplant.
“Everyone registering is agreeing to be on the
registry for any recipient worldwide,” Ellis said. “It doesn’t mean that
you have to travel.”
Ellis said that if a donor is selected as a
match, that person would give their donation at Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Medical Center. From there, the donated blood would be transported to
the nearest donor center.
Donors must be between the ages of 18
and 44, in “good general health,” and willing to donate to any person
they may match to join the registry, according to the press release.
Firefighter
Levi Parker, left rear, stands with his father, West Parker, mother
Randy Parker, and sister Paige Parker, in front. Parker’s family has
helped organize a Be the Match donor registry event planned for Nov. 5
in Springfield.
Joining the registry has no
out-of-pocket cost to those registering. Health insurance policies
written in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode
Island, by state mandate, cover the cost of the tissue typing required
to place someone on the registry, according to Ellis.
For
those from Vermont, or without health insurance, out of state insurance,
or high deductibles, the cost will be covered by the Marrow Donor
Program at RRMC, she said.
“Every day thousands of patients who
need a life-saving marrow or blood stem cell transplant are searching
for a matching donor. There are more than 20 million donors worldwide
who stand ready to give someone a future, yet even with a registry of
millions, there are patients waiting and hoping, unable to find a
match,” she said in the press release.
A marrow or blood stem cell
transplant is a way to treat and possibly cure people with leukemia,
lymphoma and other deadly diseases. Patients in need of a marrow or
blood stem cell transplant are most likely to match someone of their own
race and ethnicity, all according to Be the Match. Donations are
typically done through an automated blood donation, 75 percent of the
time, or through a minor surgical procedure done under anesthesia, 25
percent of the time, according to the press release.
The Be The
Match Registry is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)
to help facilitate unrelated marrow and blood stem cell transplants as a
single point of access for a “long-standing collaborative network” of
national and international medical facilities in marrow and cord blood
transplantation. It helps connect patients, doctors, donors and
researchers to resources, according to the press release.
Certain medical conditions can make donors ineligible to join the registry.
For more information or for questions, contact Ellis at (802) 747-8667 or email
kellis@rrmc.org, or visit
www.BeTheMatch.org.
