BANGOR — Last year, Kasee Wilson, 23, accepted a job as a marine engineer, but before shipping out, the bloodwork from his physical resulted in a diagnosis of Myelodysplastic Syndromes, which means his bone marrow did not produce enough healthy blood cells. Kasee was able to find a perfect bone marrow match through the national registry within a month of diagnosis that met all 10 criteria for his body to best accept the transplant. Next week, community members are invited to give patients like Kasee a chance, with three opportunities to join the national registry.
BANGOR — Last year, Kasee Wilson, 23, accepted a job as a marine engineer, but before shipping out, the bloodwork from his physical resulted in a diagnosis of Myelodysplastic Syndromes, which means his bone marrow did not produce enough healthy blood cells. Kasee was able to find a perfect bone marrow match through the national registry within a month of diagnosis that met all 10 criteria for his body to best accept the transplant. Next week, community members are invited to give patients like Kasee a chance, with three opportunities to join the national registry.
Volunteers age 18 to 55 are encouraged to join EMMC 3-7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Bangor Mall or at the 2015 EMMC Champion the Cure Challenge noon-2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Lafayette Family Cancer Center in Brewer to get added to the registry. There is no cost to participate, and the cheek swab is completely painless.
“Medicines could have treated the symptoms for a while, but ultimately a transplant was my only option,” Wilson said. “My diagnosis was the worst case scenario, but with this transplant, we have the best case scenario, given the circumstances.”
Approximately 30 percent of patients in need of a transplant find a donor within their own family. The remaining majority rely on benevolent strangers to donate life-sustaining bone marrow with donors found through the national registry, DeleteBloodCancer.org. Increasing the pool of potential donors is the only way to improve the odds of long term survival, organizers of the bone marrow drive said.
“EMMC began the drive in 2012, and this year our goal is to reach 1,000 participants. We need 216 more people to sign up to hit the mark,” said Nurse Brenda Clements, manager of nursing services at EMMC Cancer Care.
For information, call 973-8810.