Five-hour hero
by Lauren K. Ohnesorge
Nate Cook, local law clerk and 2011 Appalachian State University graduate, might have saved a life Sunday — and all it took was “sitting still for five hours.”
A 48-year-old leukemia patient needed bone marrow and Cook happened to be a six-out-of-six match. On Sunday, Cook was in Winston-Salem making the donation. By Tuesday afternoon, he was back at work. But it wasn't a two-day process.
Cook joined the National Bone Marrow Registry almost four years ago at a campus blood drive.
“They took a simple swab inside my cheek and collected that DNA sample and put it on the registry,” Cook said.
Two months ago, Cook got the call.
“They did a couple of blood samples to make sure I was still considered healthy,” he said.
The actual procedure wasn't what he'd expected, he said.
“A lot of people have this stigma, when you hear of bone marrow, that there's this huge needle going into your hip bone,” he said. “In my instance, that wasn't the case.”
Cook went through a procedure called a peripheral blood stem cell donation during which for five days he was given injections of a cancer medication called filgastim that helps simulate white blood cell growth.
Then he drove to Winston-Salem, where the registry put him up in a hotel. The next day, he made the donation.
“It was, essentially, like a long-term blood donation,” he said.
Registry spokesman Kirsten Lesak-Greenberg said 76 percent of donors are asked to use that donation process. Twenty-four percent are asked to perform a surgical outpatient procedure because sometimes that's the only way to cure an illness such as lymphoma.
“Most patients in need of a matching donor do not have a donor in their family who is a viable match, so they must turn to the registry,” she said.
In Cook's case, a needle in one arm drew blood into a machine that processed out blood forming cells. A needle in his other arm put the blood back into his system.
The procedure took about five hours.
“I was just laying in a bed hanging out,” he said. “It really wasn't that painful.”
Side effects such as “achy bones” and a headache were minimal, he said. He was able to drive back to Boone after the procedure.
With the donor program compensating him for gas and meals, the donation didn't cost Cook anything but time — and marrow.
For Cook, who was the student body vice president at ASU last year, saying yes to the phone call was an easy decision.
“I felt kind of drawn to it,” he said. “I would hope that, if I were in that situation or someone in my family or a friend was in that situation, there might be some stranger out there who, out of the willingness of their heart, would want to do something like that.”
The act of donating, he said, was a life changing experience, and one he'll do again if the registry calls.
“It's been eye opening,” he said, “just realizing that you have a gift like that that you wouldn't even think about.”
The Wilmington native hopes his story will inspire others to visit http://bethematch.org and find out how they can join the registry. While there aren't any local registry drives scheduled, there are easy ways to register in Boone.
A do-it-yourself registry kit is available on http://bethematch.org , community relations director Joan Wadkins said.
“It comes in the mail and you're able to swab your cheek in your own home, send it in and it's as simple as that,” Wadkins said.
Each year, more than 10,000 patients in the United States are diagnosed with life-threatening disease that require a transplant form an unrelated adult donor or an umbilical cord blood unit. Seventy percent of patient do not have a matching donor in their family and depend on the Be The Match Registry.
Last year, almost half of US patients received the unrelated transplant needed: the National Marrow Donation Program facilitated 5,500 of those marrow and cord blood transplants.
The registry consists of 9.5 million potential donors and 165,000 cord blood units. According to Be The Match, a patient's likelihood of having a donor on the registry who is willing and able to help save a life ranges from 66 to 93 percent.
As for Cook, he said plans to apply for law school next year — and update his contact information regularly so the registry can find him again, should the need arise.
A 48-year-old leukemia patient needed bone marrow and Cook happened to be a six-out-of-six match. On Sunday, Cook was in Winston-Salem making the donation. By Tuesday afternoon, he was back at work. But it wasn't a two-day process.
Cook joined the National Bone Marrow Registry almost four years ago at a campus blood drive.
“They took a simple swab inside my cheek and collected that DNA sample and put it on the registry,” Cook said.
Two months ago, Cook got the call.
“They did a couple of blood samples to make sure I was still considered healthy,” he said.
The actual procedure wasn't what he'd expected, he said.
“A lot of people have this stigma, when you hear of bone marrow, that there's this huge needle going into your hip bone,” he said. “In my instance, that wasn't the case.”
Cook went through a procedure called a peripheral blood stem cell donation during which for five days he was given injections of a cancer medication called filgastim that helps simulate white blood cell growth.
Then he drove to Winston-Salem, where the registry put him up in a hotel. The next day, he made the donation.
“It was, essentially, like a long-term blood donation,” he said.
Registry spokesman Kirsten Lesak-Greenberg said 76 percent of donors are asked to use that donation process. Twenty-four percent are asked to perform a surgical outpatient procedure because sometimes that's the only way to cure an illness such as lymphoma.
“Most patients in need of a matching donor do not have a donor in their family who is a viable match, so they must turn to the registry,” she said.
In Cook's case, a needle in one arm drew blood into a machine that processed out blood forming cells. A needle in his other arm put the blood back into his system.
The procedure took about five hours.
“I was just laying in a bed hanging out,” he said. “It really wasn't that painful.”
Side effects such as “achy bones” and a headache were minimal, he said. He was able to drive back to Boone after the procedure.
With the donor program compensating him for gas and meals, the donation didn't cost Cook anything but time — and marrow.
For Cook, who was the student body vice president at ASU last year, saying yes to the phone call was an easy decision.
“I felt kind of drawn to it,” he said. “I would hope that, if I were in that situation or someone in my family or a friend was in that situation, there might be some stranger out there who, out of the willingness of their heart, would want to do something like that.”
The act of donating, he said, was a life changing experience, and one he'll do again if the registry calls.
“It's been eye opening,” he said, “just realizing that you have a gift like that that you wouldn't even think about.”
The Wilmington native hopes his story will inspire others to visit http://bethematch.org and find out how they can join the registry. While there aren't any local registry drives scheduled, there are easy ways to register in Boone.
A do-it-yourself registry kit is available on http://bethematch.org , community relations director Joan Wadkins said.
“It comes in the mail and you're able to swab your cheek in your own home, send it in and it's as simple as that,” Wadkins said.
Each year, more than 10,000 patients in the United States are diagnosed with life-threatening disease that require a transplant form an unrelated adult donor or an umbilical cord blood unit. Seventy percent of patient do not have a matching donor in their family and depend on the Be The Match Registry.
Last year, almost half of US patients received the unrelated transplant needed: the National Marrow Donation Program facilitated 5,500 of those marrow and cord blood transplants.
The registry consists of 9.5 million potential donors and 165,000 cord blood units. According to Be The Match, a patient's likelihood of having a donor on the registry who is willing and able to help save a life ranges from 66 to 93 percent.
As for Cook, he said plans to apply for law school next year — and update his contact information regularly so the registry can find him again, should the need arise.