It wasn’t that long ago that a diagnosis of the form of cancer known as acute myeloid leukemia was a death sentence. But today, as Ira Riklis could tell you, there is hope. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is that there’s a big IF attached to that potential hope. The disease can be put into remission IF a suitable bone marrow transplant donor can be found. Mandi Schwartz, a Yale women’s hockey player, is living proof of that.
A continent-wide search for a donor finally paid off for her. She recently was treated and doctors hope the donated stem cells will take hold and repair her immune system. That she found a match at all was remarkable. Bone marrow transplants require very close tissue matches. And those matches can only be found if volunteers have sent in tissue samples (something that’s easy to do by taking a simple cheek swab). Those people are registered in a national database. From there it’s a matter of time and luck that a match can be found for someone in need. The only thing that can boost the odds is if more people register as potential donors as Ira Riklis did many years ago. Donor drives associated with Mandi’s case resulted in 4,200 new donors signing up. If everyone reading this registers and urges their friends to do so as well, maybe we can get another 4,200 and save more lives!