For more on the nonprofit and the benefits of being a donor, go to BeTheMatch.org.
Cherie Fairfax was giving blood when she signed up to be on a registry should anyone ever need her bone marrow. Seven years later, the Fayetteville general contractor and business owner was on a construction site when the call came that she was a match for a 38-year-old man with acute leukemia. “To be honest, I had forgotten all about being on the registry and initially thought the phone call was a general solicitation,” said Fairfax, who tried to hurry off the phone with the person from Be The Match, a nonprofit that connects patients with donors who can provide marrow or cord blood transplants. “The representative explained this gentleman’s situation, I then listen intently,” Fairfax said.
As it turns out, the stem cells retrieved from Fairfax’s marrow and transplanted into the man helped save his life. On June 11, Fairfax traveled to Washington, D.C. with patients and other marrow advocates to share their stories with Congress and urge continued federal funding for Be The Match. Spreading the word is especially important to Fairfax because so few minorities donate. Only seven percent of the potential adult donors on the Be The Match Registry are black, compared with 10 percent who are Latino and 60 percent who are white.
“As minorities, we have to step up,” Fairfax said.
Q: Why did you decide to donate your bone marrow?
A: People make it complicated but it is simple. God brought it to me and it was a humanitarian thing to do. I did look at what I had to go through. I didn’t feel like the task was too much to save someone’s life.
Q: What did you go through?
A: I got a shot every day for six days of a drug called filgrastim, which allowed my body to produce extra stem cells. On the sixth day, I went to Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute and they hooked me up to a transfusion-type looking machine. They skimmed off the extra stem cells and my blood went back into me. I got a call that night asking if I could come back the next day to donate some more stem cells.
Q: Any side effects?
A: The first three days of the shots were a piece of cake. On the fourth and fifth days, I started feeling fatigue and flu-like and irritable. When they skimmed off the extra cells, I started feeling better. It wasn’t anything I wouldn’t go through again.
Q: Did you have to pay for the procedures?
A: Nothing was out of pocket for me. In my case, the nurse came to my home and gave me shots while I was in my flannel pajamas.
Q: Do you know what happened to your cells?
A: As I understand it, stem cells have to be donated within 24 hours. If the man was not local, the cells might go on a plane. On his end, doctors have to break down his immune system so he won’t reject the donation. If I backed out at the last minute, and people do, the situation could have been grave for him. So if you think you are going to back out, don’t sign up.
Q: Was it worth it?
A: Within a month, I received a call letting me know that the man was discharged. I ran out of the office. I was so excited and I started screaming, he lived, he lived. This was a good ending. Even if it didn’t go like that, I had that internal gratification that I tried.
Q: What did you hope to accomplish by going to Washington, D.C.?
A: To educate people about the lack of minority donors. To talk about the need for more money for the program and how it gives people the chance of life.
Q: How did it go?
A: I believe our visit was an outstanding success. I am very proud to do my part and will continue to volunteer to help with efforts going forward.
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