Latest news with #NationalMarrowDonorProgram
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Lackawanna County residents rally for 20-year-old cancer patient
THROOP, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A local college student is in the fight of his life, battling cancer. Lackawanna County residents are rallying around him as the 20-year-old is now in search of a blood stem cell donor. All week long, there are swab events to help find a bone marrow match for Eddie Kaufman. The 20-year-old Mid Valley alumnus has been battling leukemia since the fall. 28/22 News spoke with his dad and friends earlier Tuesday about Eddie's diagnosis and the race to find him a match. 'I would like to be the one to help him out, potentially save his life… we've been best friends since preschool,' Eddie's friend Jaden Carroll explained. Carroll, a Sophomore at Penn State Scranton, says he's hopeful he is a bone marrow match for his lifelong friend Eddie Kaufman. 'It was shocking, I mean it just goes to show that it could happen to anybody because I thought that was the healthiest, most athletic kid I knew,' Carroll explained. After starting his second year at Roanoke College last fall, the standout baseball player was diagnosed with T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Cold case arrest after body found in garbage bags on I-80 'He had gone back to school in Virginia. He called and said he's got some swollen lymph nodes and something's going on, and that was the first sign there was an issue,' Eddie's father, Brian Kaufman, said. The diagnosis is a form of cancer that impacts blood, tissue, and bone marrow. Months into the fight, Eddie is now in search of a blood stem cell donor. 'They warned us going in that 70% of family members are not perfect matches, and we fell into that 70%,' Brian continued. Family and friends are now pushing to find the Mid-Valley alum a perfect donor match. 'Everybody just kind of came together and decided that we should find this match for Eddie,' said Eddie's Friend Emily Deoliveira. Contractor sued for alleged 'subpar' work, violations Through the National Marrow Donor Program, the community is holding several swab events across Lackawanna County. Anyone ages 18 to 40 can be a potential donor; all it takes is a simple cheek swab. For potential future matches, 90% of donations are non-surgical and are as simple as giving plasma. 'There's a lot of people out there that need a bone marrow transplant, and 22,000,000 people are in the database. It sounds like a lot, but it's not enough,' Brian added. 'We're getting a lot of love for Eddie, which is really, really nice,' Deoliveira said. Team Eddie K is growing locally and beyond. The swab results take about one to two weeks to come back. There are also campaigns going on in Virginia, Georgia, and New York. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ohio State quarterback Will Howard helps bring attention to bone-marrow needs
If an onlooker standing outside the Ohio Union on March 27 asked what the long line snaking around the building was for, anyone in the line would have probably had the right answer: Will Howard. But there's more to the story. Two months before Ohio State's star quarterback spent that Thursday afternoon posing for photos and signing autographs, he was sent a message by 21-year-old Charlotte "Charley" Bauer. On Jan. 29, Bauer wrote the following note from the hospital to Ohio State's star quarterback, thanking him for his advocacy for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP). 'My name is Charley Bauer, and I am a nursing student at Ohio State. This past year, I've been battling high-risk acute myeloid leukemia at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Recently, someone sent me a video of you raising awareness for the NMDP registry, and I love that you are advocating for donors to join! I received my stem cell transplant last September, and I have been in remission ever since. I'm still not fully recovered from the transplant, but I'm working really hard to get there," the message read. 'I don't think students fully grasp how crucial a stem cell transplant is to patients in need. I wouldn't be here today without mine, and I carry that knowledge with me every day. Diving into the actual impact students can make if they say 'yes' to being a donor could inspire more people to get swabbed. If you ever want to collaborate on something — now or in the future — I'd love to help share my experience.' The message, provided by the NMDP, never made it to Howard while Bauer was still alive. The Ohio State nursing student succumbed to her fight to acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on Feb. 16. In a quote provided via the NMDP, Charley's mother, Alyssa, noted the importance of joining the stem cell registry to provide those who are battling the same journey the chance to survive. "Our family is extremely grateful for each individual who joins the NMDP stem cell registry. Although Charley was unable to secure her perfect 10 out of 10 match, she would be honored to know that her story has helped grow the registry for others in need," she said. "From the moment she was diagnosed, Charley was determined to survive AML and the transplant. She fought her battles with everything she had. Through it all, she remained positive, optimistic and connected with her nurses, doctors and patients on the oncology floor of Nationwide Children's Hospital. "Her final words were 'It will be OK,' and 'I can do hard things.' The world is certainly missing out on having Charley here with us. She was destined to do great things not only as a future nurse, but as a kind and compassionate human. She leaves behind a legacy of courage, hope and above all else, pure love.' Just a month after Bauer's death, the NMDP, in partnership with Ohio State's Be The Match Club, held a drive in her memory. Howard joined the event, as did other student athletes and a fleet of Buckeye Paws therapy dogs — including dogs Bo, Norman, Shiloh and Indy — as Bauer was a dog lover whose special joy was the Butterfly Paws team at Nationwide. To remember Bauer's legacy and encourage students and faculty to sign up for the bone marrow registry, the celebration reminded the community of her core message through treatment: "I can do hard things." Attending the registry drive as a friend to both Bauer and Howard, 10-year-old Katelyn Weirich floated around the crowd with her parents, Tara and Jeff. Looking out at the long line of people patiently waiting to meet with Howard, Tara Weirich said she was "super happy" for what it meant for the NMDP registry. "Katelyn and Charley were friends. We were both praying for each other for a long time. Her mom and I are friends now," Weirich said. "If she (Charley) would have had a 10 out of 10 match, then it could have saved her life. There were three people in the whole world that had a 10 out of 10 for her and weren't able to donate at the time, so we need more people in the registry so there can be a greater number than three in the entire world." Ohio State's Be The Match Club president Shreaya Madireddy said she started the chapter to diversify and grow the NMDP bone marrow registry. "Matching is based on your HLA (human leukocyte antigen) type, which is based on your background. Since OSU has so many students with so many different backgrounds, we thought this would be the perfect place to start a club," Madireddy said. "Right now, we're honoring Charley." Howard said he has been involved with the NMDP — formerly called Be The Match — for several years, inspired by his mother, Maureen, who worked as an occupational therapist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. The 23-year-old quarterback, originally from Pennsylvania, started a drive at Kansas State University, but he wasn't able to participate last year due to the quick turnaround while moving his college football career to Ohio State. "It's such an easy process to swap somebody's mouth and get them on the registry. There could be somebody out there that could be the match for one of these kids that has these blood cancers, or one of these adults, and need a bone marrow or stem cell transplant," Howard said. "I try to encourage as many people as I can to get on and help save a life because I've seen that three or four people that I've gotten on the registry have saved lives now, and it's crazy." Noting the March 27 drive had already surpassed its goal as of an hour before its scheduled end time, Howard said he was happy to be able to participate this year. "It's way more important than anything I do on the field. I love what I do on the field, but, I mean, this is what it's really about," he said. Sophia Veneziano is a Columbus Dispatch reporter supported by the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation. She may be reached at sveneziano@ The Dispatch retains full editorial independence for all content. This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Will Howard, National Marrow Donor Program host OSU registry event
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Former Maine lawmaker's leukemia fight highlights national need for bone marrow donors
Feb. 4—When she first stepped into urgent care in early December, Maggie O'Neil wondered whether her unaccounted-for bruises and fatigue were worth the wait for a clinician. "I thought I had low iron or something," O'Neil said in a phone call last week. But when the numbers came back "funny," the former Democratic state representative for Saco was referred to Maine Medical Center. "It just kind of was a whirlwind after that," she said. O'Neil, 35, was transferred to Maine Medical Center, where further tests showed that she has acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow. Often referred to as AML, it is the most common type of acute leukemia in adults, according to the National Cancer Institute. She is awaiting test results to determine whether her brother, Max, 33, could provide the transplant. If he is a match, the transplant could happen as soon as mid-March, O'Neil said. If not, O'Neil will need to turn to an anonymous donor through the nonprofit NMDP. Formerly known as the National Marrow Donor Program and Be The Match, the group matches volunteer donors and patients in need to facilitate bone marrow donations across states and countries. "I haven't googled anything about the disease, just because I didn't want to see any kind of horror stories," she said. "I've really just been taking it one day at a time and listening to what my doctors say, and not spending time spinning about other stuff." O'Neil stayed at the hospital for more than a month to undergo chemotherapy, which helped slow the cancer's spread through her bloodstream but could not remove it from her marrow. So doctors recommended a bone marrow transplant. "I'll just do rounds of chemo until I'm able to get a transplant," O'Neil said. "I'll be taking the immune system of whoever donates. That'll give me the building blocks." For O'Neil's father, Christopher O'Neil, his daughter's need was a window into the broader landscape of need. He considered signing up for the bone marrow registry but learned that he was too late: Only those 40 or younger can sign up. Those on the registry age out of it at 60, said Erica Sevilla, public relations manager for NMDP. That restriction helps ensure only the most viable donors are considered, Sevilla said. Doctors request donors under the age of 34 in 75% of cases, she said. In a post shared widely on Facebook, Christopher O'Neil urged community members to sign up for the marrow donor registry if they are young enough to do so and, if not, to encourage their younger loved ones to sign up. "The interaction on the Facebook post confirmed that I wasn't the only one in the dark about that (age cap)," he said on a Thursday phone call. Those between 18 and 40 can join the national marrow registry by visiting Hundreds of users shared and commented on the post, voicing their support for O'Neil and signaling that they had signed up for the registry. He said support seemed especially poignant among residents of Saco, which she represented in the state House of Representatives during her final term. "I've had friends, colleagues and acquaintances dating back decades who came out of the woodwork to respond positively to that one rambling post," Christopher O'Neil said. "I've said for decades that Maine is a big small town. ... (This) proves me right." AML is a particularly aggressive form of leukemia, and it is most often referred for bone marrow transplants, said Sevilla. "It is the No. 1 diagnosis that is treated by transplant," Sevilla said. Three times out of 10, a patient can find a suitable match in their family, but most still end up turning to the registry, Sevilla said. FINDING A MATCH IS DIFFICULT Matching marrow is a complicated process, and it can take years for a potential donor to be tapped, if they are at all. In 2023, the latest year for which data is available, more than 31,000 Mainers were registered with NMDP, a fraction of the roughly 9 million potential donors nationwide. From 2019-23, 65 of them went through with donations. During that same time frame, 327 Mainers searched for a viable donor. The likelihood of finding a viable match from the registry largely depends on the patient's ethnic background, according to NMDP. Individuals of Caucasian descent have a roughly 79% chance of being paired with a fully matched donor. But that figure drops to 60% for Native Americans and to less than 50% for Asian and Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Latino and Black people — for which success rate drops to 29%, largely due to lack of donors, according to NMDP. Human leukocyte antigens — the genetic markers used to determine a match — are inherited, meaning that donors and patients are likely to share the same ethnic background, but present-day geography makes little difference. "At the end of the day, where a donor lives isn't as important as where their grandparents or great-grandparents lived," Sevilla said. "There's definitely a disparity that exists among ethnically diverse patients." Recent developments in pre- and post-transplant treatments have improved outcomes for patients whose donors are not perfect matches, said Stephen Spellman, NMDP's vice president of research and senior scientific director. That could help improve outcomes for patients in historically difficult-to-match groups. "Where we've seen pretty tremendous growth in recent years is in the mismatched, unrelated donor setting," Spellman said. "So patients that weren't finding a match previously on the registry are able to find a suitable match and pursue curative therapy." YOUNG DONORS NEEDED Still, Spellman noted that the registry needs a constant stream of young donors, as those already on it grow older and eventually age out. He said donors between 18 and 30 tend to offer the best outcomes. "Now, does that mean that a donor over the age of 30 is always a deal-breaker? No," Spellman said. "There's just some additional risk that's taken." O'Neil said she was "totally shocked and floored" by the outpouring of support from friends and constituents, as well as more than $40,000 that was donated to a GoFundMe to help cover the costs associated with a monthlong stay at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and routine trips to Boston following the transplant. "Just feeling supported and loved is really helping make it easier," she said. She said the staff on Maine Med's oncology floor have been supportive and encouraging. O'Neil said she's seen firsthand how important a reliable donor registry is, for any kind of transplant. "Whatever people are willing and able to do, I've just seen the impact from myself and people in here," O'Neil said from the oncology wing. Copy the Story Link
