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Lauren McCormack ’07: Giving the gift of life

One year ago Lauren McCormack ’07 registered with the National Marrow Donor Program to see if she matched a need. She did. Lauren’s bone marrow matched that of a 51-year old woman, who today has been cancer-free for a year. “I’m so, so happy to learn that my recipient is doing well and is disease-free,” said Lauren, who is currently in the pre-nursing program at the University of Hawaii.

“Saving a life is a rare opportunity that not many people are able to experience, especially when they are just 20 years old. The whole process was so incredible and I’d really like the opportunity to encourage others to join the registry!”

In her own words, Lauren describes her experience.

My Experience as a Bone Marrow Donor
In 2008, I noticed a post on my college Web site announcing that the National Marrow Donor Program would be on campus looking for volunteers to potentially donate marrow to a local boy in need of a transplant. I went to the drive, filled out the detailed health history forms, and provided the National Marrow Donor Program volunteers with tissue samples from the inside of my cheek. I doubted that I would ever be contacted, but as a student preparing for a career in health care, I felt that joining the marrow registry was necessary. It was important to me to be an option, eager and ready to help a person in need.

I have never won or been chosen for anything like this and figured there was very little chance I would be the one person out of millions to save someone’s life. To my surprise, I received a call in early December from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. I was not a match for the little boy, but I was found to be a possible match for another patient.

I was informed of the donation process and asked to provide a blood sample for a confirmatory test. Only about 8 percent of people called for confirmatory typing go on to donate; so, once again, I proceeded while remaining skeptical. A little over a month later, I was again contacted by the people at Dana Farber and learned I was one of two perfect matches for that particular patient. I was considered to be the back-up donor.

Needless to say, I was shocked several weeks later when I received the call. This time, it was urgent. The other match was unable to donate and the patient was expected to relapse. I was her last hope. Without a second thought, I agreed to donate my bone marrow and my marrow harvest was scheduled for two weeks from that date. (Because of the urgency, the usual donation process was accelerated by about four weeks.)

After a full day of blood tests and a physical exam that included an EKG, I was found to be in perfect health and ready to donate.

In the days before my donation, I felt calm, yet slightly anxious. In order to keep my emotions in check, I tried not to think about what the donation actually meant – that my bone marrow could possibly prevent a person from dying. I did not want to think of myself as someone’s only chance of survival – that without this donation a person would actually stop living.

It wasn’t until I found out the age, sex, and diagnosis of my recipient that I was unable to keep the fact out of my mind. My recipient, a 51-year-old female, was diagnosed with acute myelogeneous leukemia, a disease I would later learn affects 1 in 274 men and women. Learning this information forced me to acknowledge that the woman was not just a “recipient,” but a person with an identity and family and a life.

I was one of millions in the registry and figured this type of thing happened all the time. But I was astounded to learn that such donations are quite uncommon and there are not nearly enough volunteers in the registry to supply all of the patients in need. At this point, there was no way I could allow myself to back out of the donation.

The actual marrow harvest was relatively simple. I was under general anesthesia and the entire process took less than two hours, with 800 mL of my bone marrow being extracted from my iliac crest, the most prominent bone on the pelvis.

The first few days after the donation, I experienced a lot of pain. It actually took about one month for me to feel fully recovered. While I was definitely uncomfortable, I knew that the pain I was feeling was nothing in comparison to what my recipient had and still was going through. Knowing that I might have brought a positive end to her suffering made everything seem worthwhile.
I had never expected to receive so much praise and support from people, and I certainly did not go through with the donation for those reasons, but it has helped me to understand the significance of what I did.

I received a tremendous amount of encouragement and well wishes from my family, friends and acquaintances. The week after my donation, I was telling my boss about the donation and a woman happened to overhear my story. She walked over and gave me a hug as she tearfully explained that she herself is a cancer survivor and was proud of what I had done. Later, I learned that a family friend participated in Relay for Life in honor of my recipient.

This experience helped me appreciate further the delicateness of life, and it also strengthened my desire to become a nurse. I am proud of my decision to join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry and of my contribution, and I definitely encourage others to join the registry. You can help by visiting www.marrow.org.