Bone marrow transplant saves a life

11/06/09 - It was May of 2004 during her junior year of high school when University of Rhode Island student Jackie Tally desperately needed a bone marrow transplant to save her life.Tally said she remembers making a tuna sandwich for her younger sister when the phone rang and her father went into his bedroom to take the call. She thought nothing of it at the time, and didn't even realize what was going on. Tally turned to find her father standing in front of her. "Immediately I felt a pit in my stomach," Tally said.

He told her she had leukemia and was going to have to beat it. "That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to beat it," Tally said.

Before being diagnosed Tally was in and out of school from Nov. 2003 to May 2004 because she was constantly sick. She had ear infections, fevers and even cases of pneumonia. She was in and out of hospitals and doctors' offices because no one could give her an answer. Tally said she almost felt relieved when she found out, not because she had cancer, but because she finally had an answer.

"I knew that I was dying, but [they weren't] figuring anything out," she said.

Leukemia is when you have abnormal white blood cells that don't die off when they should and crowd your good blood cells, she said. This interrupts the way good blood cells work.

Tally was originally diagnosed with MDS (Myelodysplastic Syndrome), which is when the bone marrow doesn't make enough blood cells for the body. MDS can progress into AML (acute myelogenous leukemia), which occurred in Tally's case after about four months.

For Tally, a bone marrow transplant was pretty much her only option, but it's not easy to get one right away. She said a bone marrow transplant is when you need new blood and need to replace stem cells.

In order to receive the transplant, you have to find a donor.

"Your immune systems have to match each other very specifically," she said. "Sometimes people never find a match."

Siblings are normally potential donors and have a one in four chance of being a match. Unfortunately for Tally, her brother and sister weren't a match, but she luckily found a donor by July.

Tally said she has never met her donor, but hopes she can in the future.

The United States has a policy where within the first year from the date of the transplant, donors and patients are not allowed to meet. Tally said it's to protect people in case something goes wrong with the transplant. Her donor is a male and was either 21 or 22 at the time of the transplant, but Tally doesn't know anything else about him.

Tally said signing up to be a donor and actually donating bone marrow is not as intense as most people believe. Signing up involves a few pages of paper work and four quick cheek swabs, she said.

You stay on the bone marrow donor registry until you're 61, or until you choose to be taken off of it.

"It's important to get more people in the bone marrow bank," Tally said.

If you become a match for someone in need of a bone marrow transplant, there are two procedure options. Eighty percent of people choose to do a four to five hour procedure that involves extracting stem cells through an IV.

The donor has to take a growth hormone pill for five days prior to the transplant. This helps circulate the blood, making it easier to extract the stem cells.

The donor gets hooked up to a machine and in one arm an IV extracts the stem cells for the patient. In the other arm the donor's blood is put back into their blood stream through a different IV.

The other option bone marrow donors have extracts bone marrow from their hip, where most bone marrow is stored, Tally said.

The donor is under general anesthesia for this procedure, but may feel some light discomfort and bruising for a couple of days.

Tally said people should be more educated on being a bone marrow donor.

"[There's] a lot of misconception around the whole subject," she said.

Before undergoing the transplant, Tally had to endure a full week of intense chemotherapy and body radiation.

"[It's] the strongest form that a body can handle," she said.

This is because they have to clear out everything in your bones, she added.

Tally experienced the usual nausea and loss of hair during her therapy. Unfortunately, after Tally received the transplant, her body was still weak.

She said it takes a long time for the new cells to mature in order to build up blood again.

During this time, you have no immune system, she said. She was in isolation for about a year because her blood cells weren't mature enough to fight infection.

The first month she spent at the hospital in the transplant unit. This is a floor in the hospital where an air pressure system helps filter out dust and harmful bacteria. Tally also had to get blood transfusions every couple of days after the transplant, she said.

Tally finally returned home right before Christmas in 2004, but no one was allowed in her house except her family. The house was completely sterilized before she arrived, as well. She was only allowed to stay in her house, or right outside, and visitors weren't allowed until the summer of 2005.

Tally was able to return to school the fall of 2005, but missed graduating with her original senior class because of her illness. On the bright side, Tally was able to graduate with her brother Mike in 2006. Even though Tally missed her senior year of high school and prom with her friends, she was able to have her own prom as her "Make-A-Wish" gift.

The "Make-A-Wish Foundation" offers one big gift to children between the ages of 2 and 18 who are terminally ill.