{"id":12879,"date":"2010-04-16T14:00:49","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T18:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=12879"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:42:36","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:42:36","slug":"bone-marrow-donor-urges-others-to-sign-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/04\/bone-marrow-donor-urges-others-to-sign-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Bone Marrow Donor Urges Others to Sign Up"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Caitlin<\/a>
Caitlin Emma, a junior majoring in journalism. Photo by Margaret Malmborg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When journalism major Caitlin Emma covered a story her freshman year, she didn\u2019t know it would end up saving a life.<\/p>\n

One of Emma\u2019s first assignments as a student reporter for the Daily Campus<\/em> was writing about a bone marrow drive. After collecting facts and quotes from the drive\u2019s sponsor, Save Giovanni\u2019s Friends<\/a>, on a whim, Emma decided to complete the donor form and submit a cheek swab for the drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know about bone marrow donations,\u201d she says, \u201cbut I thought it sounded like a great thing. My best friend\u2019s mom had cancer, which influenced me to want to help out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma was identified as a match and went on to donate bone marrow. Now she’s encouraging others to sign up as potential donors at a bone marrow drive she’s organizing on April 20, with a table for registering interested donors also placed outside Homer Babbidge Library on April 19 and 20.<\/p>\n

Emma’s cells were matched with a child suffering from leukemia through a bone marrow registry organization known as DKMS Americas<\/a>. DKMS Americas, the world\u2019s largest marrow donor center, is affiliated with the National Marrow Donor Registry Program<\/a> (NMDP), a non-profit organization based in Minneapolis that operates the Be The Match Registry. It has more than 8 million registered donors, resulting in over 38,000 transplants worldwide.<\/p>\n

Emma\u2019s mother, Pamela, says she had reservations about her daughter donating bone marrow: \u201cAfter DKMS Americas contacted her, I went online and read everything I could about the process, which cleared up my misconceptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through donor drives, people sign up to see if their blood cells are a match to the 6,000 people seeking transplants at any given time. Only 4 out of 10 patients find matches, and more than 70 percent of patients in need of bone marrow transplants do not find a match within their family.<\/p>\n

Michael Guglielmo is the father of Giovanni \u2013 the child who inspired Emma to sign up as donor. He and his wife organize bone marrow drives as a part of the NMDP network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince 2007 we\u2019ve added more than 33,000 donors in New England, and matched 31 people,\u201d says Guglielmo, whose son was matched when he was a year old and is now a thriving 3\u00bd year old.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need for donors is especially acute for a number of ethnic groups,\u201d says Guglielmo. \u201cDiseases such as sickle cell anemia and some other genetic blood disorders afflict African-Americans, but only 7 percent of donors are of African descent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another UConn student, Syed Rizvi, a senior majoring in physiology and neurobiology, started his own UConn organization, The Bone Marrow Campaign<\/a>. He has organized several drives over the past two semesters and registered 53 people. Blood types are most likely matched through similar heredity.<\/p>\n

\"<p>Syed<\/a>
Syed Rizvi, a senior majoring in physiology and neurobiology. Photo by Margaret Malmborg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy aunt had leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant. The NMDP did not have a suitable match for her,\u201d explains Rizvi, \u201cI learned that minority populations comprise only 27 percent of all individuals on the NMDP registry, yet people from all races need bone marrow transplants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donors whose cheek swabs show a possible match then give blood for further testing.<\/p>\n

Emma went to Student Health Services to have blood drawn. \u201cI donated through the peripheral blood stem cell technique [a non-invasive procedure and the most common way to donate].\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma went to a clinic in Massachusetts for the stem cell donation. To learn more about Emma\u2019s experience, read her article in the Daily Campus<\/a> or go to her blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The whole process from cheek swab to blood tests and stem cell harvesting is completely paid for by DKMS Americas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe medical care that DKMS provided to Caitlin was superior,\u201d says Pamela Emma. \u201cIt was a great comfort to me to know that she was in good hands every step of the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the transplant process was complete, Emma wanted to help spread the word about the need for donors and how others can give the gift of life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel great about the donation and that I was in the right place at the right time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Adds Rizvi, \u201cThis [donation process] is a rewarding experience because I am able to see firsthand the goodness of students who want to volunteer. There are an incalculable amount of people who care for their fellow man and want to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emma\u2019s donation has touched her sorority sisters in Alpha Phi and other family members. Her family and \u2018sisters\u2019 will assist with the bone marrow drive Emma is organizing.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Coach] Geno Auriemma, his wife, and their foundation are also teamed with us,\u201d Emma says. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for volunteers to make this one of the largest bone marrow drives at UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stop by Emma\u2019s bone marrow drive on April 20 and find out how you can save a life. Details about bone marrow donations are listed on the websites of BeTheMatch<\/a> and DKMSAmericas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After the drive, Emma Tweeted that she registered 280 people at the bone marrow drive.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Emma donated bone marrow that saved a child’s life. Now she invites others to do the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-12879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 04:44:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12879"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37505,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12879\/revisions\/37505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12879"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=12879"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=12879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}