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Here's a Valentine's gift that shares love and life

By GREG HAMILTON
Published February 13, 2006

If you are looking for some new way to share some love this Valentine's Day, here's a gift you can give that will never be returned. The size is never wrong, the color always right.

Tuesday will be the ninth annual Saturn National Donor Day, when donor drives around the country will aim to line up potential blood, marrow, organ and tissue donations.

A gift of blood or bone marrow might not be quite as sexy as, say, a Victoria's Secret teddy or a box of Godiva chocolates, unless, of course, you happen to be on the receiving end. Then, there's nothing better in the world.

Blood supplies are typically low this time of year, while the demand never takes a holiday. The process is quick, painless and rewarding. There also is a crying need for people willing to donate organs, tissue and bone marrow.

More than 90,000 people in this country are waiting and hoping for an organ transplant, according to National Donor Day officials. Every day, an average of 18 people die while waiting for an organ to become available. Here is a chance to make known your intentions to donate your organs and tissues after you no longer need them.

On Valentine's Day, or any day, even if you can't donate blood, you can become part of the registry of potential bone marrow donors.

Blood is taken that is tested for its various components (the science of marrow transplants has expanded tremendously in recent years). The age limit for marrow donors is 18 to 60; for regular blood donors, it is age 17 with no upper limit.

You will be added to the National Marrow Donor Program's registry, which contains more than 5.5-million people and is the world's largest and most diverse source for the blood-forming cells used in transplantation.

If tests show that you are a potential match for a patient, you will be contacted to see whether you are willing to donate. If so, more tests will be done on your blood to see whether you are the best donor candidate, and the preparations will begin.

Collections of blood-forming cells are made in one of two ways. The first is through the blood stream: Blood is withdrawn, the cells are separated out, and the remaining blood is returned to the donor.

The second involves a surgical procedure, with liquid marrow being withdrawn from the rear of the pelvic bone by a needle. Donors can feel some lower-back discomfort for a few days, and the body replaces the marrow in four to six weeks.

I have had to take a crash course on this subject in recent weeks after my older brother, Brian, was diagnosed with leukemia just days before his 50th birthday. He celebrated his birthday in a New York City hospital, with a chemotherapy drip instead of a birthday cake.

Neither my other brother nor I are donor matches, it turns out, so Brian was at the mercy of fate - and the charity of strangers. The chemo methodically destroyed his immune system while the registry searched for a potential donor. After weeks of tremendous anxiety came word from the donor program: It had found a match.

Brian and the anonymous donor are being prepped for a transplant that is scheduled for early March. If the marrow-producing cells take hold, he will have the donor's immune system, and a second chance at life.

This has been one of those situations in life where you know on some level that there is a need out there, but you never act upon it until it smacks you square in the face. I am now on the marrow donor registry, but would I have done so had my brother not received this potential death sentence in November? I would like to say yes, but I know better.

You have it within yourself to save a life with relatively little impact on your own world. On Valentine's Day, share a bit of yourself with the world.

It's a lot healthier than chocolate.

--Greg Hamilton is editor of editorials for the Citrus County edition of the St. Petersburg Times.

[Last modified February 13, 2006, 00:45:19]