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Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma News - Return to News Menu
Family of cancer victim promotes drive for stem-cell donations
By Julie DeHerrera
The Salt Lake Tribune
11/16/2004 Gregg Schaub was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2001. Two years later, at age 34 and after enduring chemotherapy for his cancer, he died while waiting for a stem-cell transplant - a last-chance effort to save his life. He was among thousands of patients who must wait until a national registry locates a matching donor. A match may be made to a family member, but 70 percent of patients needing a transplant must search the registry.
The Schaub family has been on a mission to recruit potential donors since Gregg's death, and are organizing a donor drive at the University of Utah ballroom, in the Olpin Student Union, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The American Red Cross will also conduct a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Schaub family created the the Gregg Schaub Donor Foundation in May. "It's about getting the word out," said Jennifer Schaub, Gregg's widow. "When Gregg was diagnosed, I had to learn real quick about this disease."
On a daily basis, there may be as many as 8,400 people searching for a donor on the National Marrow Donor Program, said Pat Thompson, a spokesman for the program, based in Minneapolis. Interested potential donors must be between ages 18 and 60, fill out a health questionnaire and submit a blood test. If matched to a patient, donors undergo a 45-minute outpatient procedure, during which bone marrow is extracted from the back of the pelvic bone.
A second, but less preferred, method is similar to donating plasma. Blood is taken from a donor's arm, stem cells are separated out, and the remaining blood is returned to the donor. Jennifer and Gregg were married for 15 years and have four children ranging in age from 3 to 11. The couple grew up and attended schools in Layton. His job led the family to live in California for the past seven years. In February, three months after Gregg's death, Jennifer and the children moved back to Layton to be closer to family.
While Gregg was alive, the family organized its first donor drive in September 2003. Although the family was still residing in California, the drive was centralized in Utah, with 1,040 donors signing up to be on the National Marrow Donor Program registry. "Utah is one of the few states that does not have a center here for the bone marrow program and the only way to get on the registry is to sign up during a drive," said Schaub.
Utahns also can contact out-of-state registries to sign up. The Heart of America Registry, used by LDS Hospital, is available at 800-366-6710. The National Marrow Donor Program is at 800-627-7692. Information also is available at http://www.marrow.org.
Minorities are desperately needed as bone marrow and stem-cell donors, said Schaub. Tissue types are inherited, so increasing the number of minority donors would improve minority patients' odds of a match.
Gregg's wish was to keep the recruitment effort ongoing, said Schaub.
"This is something we want people to know about," she said. "No one knows what it means to rely on a stranger - to have them register and say 'Yes, I will do this for you' - you can't explain what it means to me and to other families." More information on the Schaub family's efforts is available at http://www.gsdonor foundation.org.
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