HOUSTON -- Jonathan O’Malley has spent the 17th year of his life surviving eight rounds of chemotherapy and searching for the donor who might help him reach his 18th birthday and many, many more.
O’Malley was diagnosed in August of 2008 with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). While approximately 140,000 people are diagnosed with some form of blood cancer each year, AML is a rare diagnosis for teenagers with approximately 500 adolescent cases a year in the U.S.
Currently a patient at Texas Children’s Hospital, the teen from Lumberton is in remission for the second time. But doctors believe his full recovery is dependent on a bone marrow transplant. The infusion of stem cells from a donor helps restore the function of the marrow, which is the source of blood production in the body.
But so far, it’s a match O'Malley's doctors cannot find.
“When we’re talking about a bone marrow transplant we’re talking about a huge numbers game,” said Jonathan’s father, Kevin O’Malley.
Kevin O'Malley is the pastor at the Lumberton Church of Christ. He and his wife, Melanie, adopted Jonathan at birth. Their son has no full-blood siblings, which would be the most reliable source of a marrow match. Jonathan’s birth mother volunteered, but doctors say she is only a half-match -- not the best guarantee for recovery.
According to the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society, the chance of having a full match with a sibling is about 25 percent. If that match is not available, the search begins for an unrelated donor in the National Marrow Donor Program registry. That bank of potential donors to date includes the profiles of more than 7.4 million people who have volunteered to be tested.
“The amazing thing is that out of the millions of people that are in the registry now, Jonathan doesn’t have a match internationally. But it only takes one,” said Kevin O'Malley.
The O’Malley family is searching for that “one,” and with the help of the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, they're trying to show people that becoming a potential life-saver is a simple and pain-free experience.
The standard protocol to add your profile to the National Bone Marrow Donor registry includes four cotton swabs that a potential donor need only rub inside their mouth. The swabs are simply mailed in an envelope with your contact information to the donor program repository in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 4-6 weeks, your profile is on file and available as a potential match to help save a cancer patient. And when it comes to an eventual donation, the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society says 80 percent of donations are via blood transfusions only. The often-feared outpatient procedure of removing marrow from a donor’s pelvic bone is more rare.
“You have the opportunity, the unique opportunity, to help save somebody’s life. And that’s what this is all about,” said Wyn Johnson with the Gulf Coast Marrow Donor Program.
“When it happens it happens and I’ll feel good about it. And hopefully I will save a life some day and that will be a nice feeling,” said Aaron Assefaw after he signed up at a marrow donor drive Thursday afternoon outside the cafeteria at the Baylor College of Medicine in the Texas Medical Center.
“You experience some inconvenience for a short while as opposed to an individual who may be losing their battle with their life,” added Johnson.
In Jonathan O'Malley's battle, he is spending his second Christmas as a patient at Texas Children’s Hospital. His family and his doctors say the time for him to find a potential marrow match is now. So his father pleads with more people to join the registry. More people means more chances for Jonathan O'Malley and other cancer survivors to beat their disease.
“You could save their life,” said Kevin O’Malley. “It could be Jonathan. It could be anybody in this world. So it’s a great way to do something greater than yourself. We don’t know where that one person is at. All we now is that he only needs one. One good match. And who knows who that could be.”
That match could be you.
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If you would like more information on how to become a marrow donor, check out the following links:
National Marrow Donor Program
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Jonathan O’Malley’s CarePages Web site
A donor registration event is also scheduled for December 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Chick-Fil-A restaurant in The Woodlands at 1660 Lake Woodlands Drive.
