John Shibley / Lake Superior State University
Game, Set, Match
Stephanie Fisher (left) and Taylor Steinhelper of Lake Superior State University donated blood stem cells through Be the Match, an international registry.
The quick swab of a cheek was soon forgotten by the busy Lake Superior State University students who volunteered to give life-saving cells during a donor drive on the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, campus. But something worth long remembering would come of it.
“It was the fall of my freshman year,” says Taylor Steinhelper. Now a junior at LSSU, she plays outfield for the softball team. “The Be the Match representatives came to practice and asked us to sign up. We filled out forms and had the cheek swab. After that, I hadn’t heard anything.”
Almost two years later, she got the call to donate.
Be the Match is a familiar partner on several Lake Superior-region campuses, both in the United States and Canada. Using the Be the Match model, one Lakehead University student in Thunder Bay who had leukemia started a “Will You Marrow Me” project specifically targeting the South Asian community. (Donor and patient must share specific protein markers in their cells, and ethnicity influences the likelihood of a match.) Moneet “Money” Mann did find a donor for a transplant in 2014 and continues her social media campaign.
Be the Match’s registry, operated by the National Marrow Donor Program, facilitates donations of blood-forming cells for people with blood cancers. Those critical cells – found in bone marrow, the body’s circulating blood and umbilical cord blood – are sometimes the only treatment available to ailing patients.
Blood diseases like leukemia and lymphoma disrupt the body’s ability to make healthy blood cells. Donated cells proliferate in the patient’s bloodstream and, when combined with chemotherapy, can actually cure the patient of the cancer.
Donors might match with those in need on the other side of the world. That was the case for LSSU’s Taylor, who was matched in March 2015 to a 60-year-old man in Italy, LSSU’s Tom Pink reported. Because she was in the middle of the travel-heavy softball season, she requested a deferral. “In August I got a call saying they were still looking for someone to donate and thought I would be the best match. I had blood samples taken and had to wait 60 days before I found out if I was a good enough match to donate to him.”
She was. In October, she traveled to a hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to donate peripheral blood stem cells pulled from her bloodstream. The cells were then flown to Italy. “It was an amazing opportunity to help someone have a second chance at life. I’m thankful to have been part of this experience.”
That same month, Stephanie Fisher also got a call from Be the Match. The LSSU basketball standout from the class of 2015 had recently started her first year as the university’s women’s basketball junior varsity coach. Her match was a 42-year-old woman in the United States.
“The experience wasn’t about donating my time,” Stephanie says. “It was about a bigger plan and a bigger purpose. It was about helping someone return to better health. It was about giving someone more time.”
Stephanie donated cells via the same procedure as Taylor. In the days before their donations, the women received injections of a drug called filgrastim to boost production of blood-forming cells. Then, Taylor says, “they took the blood out, separated a single layer of cells they wanted and returned the blood they didn’t need.”
It was a transformative experience. “I was the only one who could help save that woman’s life,” says Stephanie. “It feels pretty cool.”
Courtesy UMD
Game, Set, Match
University of Minnesota Duluth students Fei Tang (left) and Sharon Ng have been involved with Be the Match drives since 2010. At UMD, 19 students have been matched and donated.
Don’t Be Afraid to Be a Match
You must be 18 to 44 years of age and in good health to join the Be the Match registry. About 1 in 540 people who enroll will be selected for a donation, sometimes years after signing up, Caitlin Regan from non-profit blood bank Michigan Blood told Lake Superior Magazine.
Be the Match collects two types of donations: bone marrow and peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). A physician decides which is best for the patient. Bone-marrow donation is an outpatient procedure under general anesthesia in which liquid marrow is drawn from the pelvic bone. During a PBSC donation, cells are collected from the bloodstream by an apheresis machine. It can take up to eight hours.
Side effects of donating are minor, says Caitlin. PBSC donors may experience general soreness or headaches. Most feel normal within a week. “We tell people it might feel like you fell on the ice in the wintertime.” In Taylor’s case, she says she felt fine after a good night’s sleep.
Bone marrow donors may have back or hip pain and fatigue. Most feel fully recovered after about three weeks.
The registry most needs donations from racial and ethnic minorities. Patients are more likely to match with donors of the same background.