Tom's Bone Marrow Harvest

Here he is, the man of the hour, the day, the year, the LIFETIME!  Our Hero!  This is Tommy -- Greg's brother and savior!  Greg's bone marrow donor. 

When the doctors decided that a bone marrow transplant was needed, they asked to test Greg's siblings, because they are usually your closest match. (Because they come from the same two people.  Whereas a child or mother or father would only be a "half" match, because that person is half of another person.) That is why siblings are always requested to be tested first.  Tommy hit the jackpot that day, as he was a PERFECT match for Greg!  Gary and Jody were close, and all very willingly went to be tested, which only amounted to having some blood drawn, something we all have to do at certain stages of life. 

 As stated on the home page, the process for the donor is relatively simple.  The donor must undergo what is called a "bone marrow harvest."  This is a surgical procedure that requires general anesthesia.  Most donors are allowed to go home the same day, with only mild pain relievers.  After the marrow is harvested (usually from the rear hip bone -- because a large quantity of bone marrow is located there).    Several skin punctures on each hip and multiple bone punctures are usually required to extract the requisite amount of bone marrow.  There are no surgical incisions or stitches involved -- only skin punctures where the needle was inserted.  The amount of bone marrow harvested depends on the size of the patient and on the concentration of bone marrow cells in the donor's blood.  For Greg's transplant, roughly two quarts (or 1/2 gallon) was extracted from Tommy.  

Tommy was scheduled to be at the hospital at 7 a.m. on April 12, 2000.  At approximately 8:30 a.m. the harvest was begun, and by approximately 10:00 a.m. the doctors were finished.  Tommy sailed through this procedure with flying colors!  When the doctors came out, we were told that they were able to get "lots of good cells" from Tommy to give to Greg.   Even though 1/2 gallon sounds like a lot, it really only represents about 2% of a person's bone marrow.  The marrow taken from Tom will be replaced by his body within approximately 4 weeks.

Tom did feel some discomfort once the anesthesia wore off, but we are told this pain is akin to falling down on your backside.  Tom was given some prescription pain meds (I think Percocet) for pain as needed, but otherwise was told that Tylenol would work fine, too.  Tom's harvest was performed on a Wednesday, and he decided to take the rest of the week off.  He was able to go back to work on Monday without any problems.  How do you thank someone for saving your husband's life.  I just don't know.  Everyone has been so wonderful, and so helpful, that I just don't even know how to say "thank you" any more.   This is just all so overwhelming for me.   It is good to realize that this world we live in isn't so bad after all, and there are LOTS of wonderful people out there.  I don't think I would make it through this time if not for the support of family and friends.  Thank you to everyone for helping both Greg and I through this difficult time! 

The following pictures are courtesy of Michael Paul, the Physician Assistant who coordinated all of Tommy's care and assisted in the harvest of Tommy's bone marrow.  Dr. Paul actually took our camera into the operating room to take these pictures for us.  Thank you so much for your willingness to help us Dr. Paul (even if you thought we were a bit odd in wanting pictures).  We are truly grateful for your assistance!!!











In this photo, Tommy is being "prepped" 
by the anesthesiologist.  






These next two photos show the marrow as it was harvested from Tom.  Once the marrow was harvested, it had to go through numerous procedures, including "T-cell depletion."   Because Greg did not receive his own marrow, but that of his brother, most of the T-cells were removed to help prevent "graft-versus-host disease.  T-cells are the cells that help to identify foreign antigens.  It is believed that by removing most of the T-cells from the donor's marrow, that it will decrease the incidence and severity of graft-versus-host disease.  In addition to T-cell depletion, the cells have to be washed.  Because of these procedures, even though Tommy's harvest was completed by 10:30 a.m., Greg did not receive Tommy's cells until 9:30 that evening.  






















When Greg and I fist were told that a bone marrow transplant would be needed, we started doing a lot of research into it.  In looking for information from the donor's perspective, we found a wonderful website put together by Mike Hofschulte.  Mike was a bone marrow donor for a total stranger.  He signed up to be tested as a potential donor for a co-worker.  He was not a match for the co-worker, but ended up being a match for someone else.  

The best part about finding Mike's page is that he is from the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area!  I couldn't believe it!  We have kept in touch with Mike, and he even came to visit Greg on day +2.  After meeting him, it's no wonder he was a bone marrow donor.  Even from our short visit, we realized that he is a very warm and caring human being.  He even went to the trouble to beautifully print out his story for us, give us a disk of e-mail that he received after posting his story, and even gave Greg a really nice new shirt to wear when he gets out of the hospital.  Thanks Mike!  It really was wonderful meeting you!  

Again, I have to say that I don't know how to put into words how grateful I am to Tommy.  In this selfless act, he has done so much more than anyone could ever ask of a brother.  THANK YOU TOMMY!  Thank you for being a perfect match, thank you for being the wonderful brother that you are, thank you for saving my husband's life.  Thank you for being YOU!  We love you, Tom!