Fire station hosts bone marrow registration drive

The Green Valley Fire District will be hosting a bone marrow drive today at its headquarters on Camino Encanto.

Anyone in good health, aged 18 to 60, is encouraged to join the donor registry, said James Perkins, a Green Valley fire fighter who helped organize the event.

His stepson, a 29-year-old father of three, was recently diagnosed with a rare illness called Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a disease that prevents blood cells from maturing. If not treated, the disease might turn into a form of leukemia.

“The best hope for a cure is to find a match who can donate bone marrow,” said Perkins, who has been on the National Marrow Donor Program registry for more than 10 years.

“Even if we can’t find a donor for Wayne, maybe we can get someone registered that will match a person in need of marrow,” he said.

Marrow can be donated in one of two ways.

With peripheral blood cell (PBSC) donation, the donor is given a medication that will draw stem cells into blood stream. The blood is then passed through a machine that separates out the cells used in marrow transplants, and the remaining blood is returned through the other arm.

The other is a minor surgical procedure where marrow is removed from the pelvic bone.

Today’s drive is just to get people signed up for the registry, which doctors use to search for possible donors for their patients. Donors will be required to complete a health history form, and a swab will be taken from the inside of the mouth to determine tissue type.

Donors who are Caucasian will be required to pay a $25 tissue typing fee, discounted from the normal $52, which is needed to cover laboratory costs. Funding has been provided for donors of certain minority backgrounds, because there is a higher demand for these tissue types.

If a person on the registry is chosen to become a donor, the costs of the procedure will be covered.

“To become a donor is admirable,” Perkins said. “You could save a life.”

The drive will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Station 153, located at 1285 W. Camino Encanto. The number of the station is 625-9400. Visit www.marrow.org for more details about the donation process.

jrichardson@gvnews.com | 547-9726