I'm thinking red

Earth Day 2008
April 22, 2008
SEATTLE -- Green is on every one's mind today. Except mine. I'm thinking red, as in blood. My blood and my brother's blood. I'm sitting looking out at a lovely view of Lake Union and sailboats and Seattle's Space Needle skyline but preoccupied with thoughts of blood. A Seattle Cancer Care Alliance technician has just collected eight tubes of my A positive blood, and I've dutifully pee-ed in a cup, and now I'm nervously awaiting the results. Today is the day I find out whether I'll be the blood sister. Whether I'll pass all the tests and be determined healthy enough to be a donor match for a stem cell transplant that could save my brother's life. This has weighed heavily on my mind since I was deemed the "perfect"match two weeks ago. However, I know better than anyone how unreliable and "weak" my blood has been to me the past two years. (Some of you, my friends back in Atlanta may also recall my days of sleep-walking through my life. At one point, a doctor commented, "I'm amazed you can even stand up, let alone function." )Back then, my red blood cell counts had dipped so low and had so little iron that my body started drawing from its own reserve in the bone marrow, the bone marrow that was now highly desired by my much sicker brother. He's been fighting non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma for more than three years now. The first year the doctors followed a "watch and wait" approach after removing a part of his colon where the cancer had spread. Then for about 18 months, many rounds of chemo kept the tumors on his neck fairly in check. One year ago, he had surgery after prostate cancer was discovered. In January, he and his wife and daughter moved to Seattle from Leavenworth (120 miles east of Seattle) to start a stem-cell transplant at Fred Hutchinson, part of Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. All was on track for Tom to have a stem-cell transplant using his own blood, which was to been drawn out and then infused back into his own body following a very toxic regime of radioactive chemicals -- requiring he be quarantined in a hospital room for 10 days with no visits from anyone. Tom was to be part of an experimental drug regiment of treatment using Bexxar, found to be the best drug to put his type of cancer in remission for years. However, after weeks and weeks and test after test, Tom's oncology team broke the bad news he ultimately didn't qualify for this treatment -- his heart function wasn't strong enough, combined with his too "old" age (he turns 63 on May 2) AND to top it off, doctors found signs of leukemia in the blood he had stored for his own use. So the next best treatment is using a donor -- preferably a sibling for the best possible match. There are four siblings for my oldest brother to choose from. I and my oldest sister, Anne, are both "perfect," however, I'm "more perfect" because I'm younger. But I've been worried my blood wasn't strong enough as my body just wasn't absorbing iron, basic nutrients due to an unknown and silent condition --- gluten intolerance. Up until about one year ago, doctors had me on an intravenous iron therapy which I received once a week in a three-hour procedure in the same room where cancer patients like Tom were connected to their chemo I.V. drips. I never had a name for my condition but it sure came with a real list of symptoms. Fast forward two years later. New city, new life, and a renewed sense of well-being. Here I am looking and feeling more healthy than I have in years (and I mean years) but still unsure about the "official" status of my blood. I sure feel a zillion times more energetic than I did one year ago, and my latest blood work in December indicated that my anemia was finally under control. Still, I worried. Mostly, I didn't want to get Tom's hopes up, as he's been through so many ups and downs, promises and protocol and so many tests and results that have altered his ultimate hope - a life-altering and life-sustaining stem-cell transplant. I did tell him last week that it was very fortunate that Anne could still be considered "on deck" if it was determined I struck out on the required donor health tests. It was explained to be today that Anne is considered just as suitable a match, only she has a few more years on her blood. The younger the donor, the better. And also, they prefer barren women--- as in women who haven't delivered children -- boy, did Tom get lucky in that department too since none of his sisters opted to have children. The thought is that developing babies rob or change the status of a person's stem cell bank, so if there's a choice of donors, they'll take the female who's never bore children. Plus, they prefer them to be under age 50. So it's looking like the little sister is looking good!!!!
But what about those pesky blood tests that will determine whether I really am "perfect?"