There is a crucial difference in the case of two-year-old Joshua, a Durham resident battling leukemia, and the majority of approximately 30,000 patients in the United States with leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and sickle cell disease who, at any given time, turn to the National Marrow Donor Registry for a match that could save their life.
While Caucasian patients--who comprise more than half of the registry--have an 80 percent chance of finding a match, the odds for a minority patient can be as low as one in a million. Since Joshua is African-American, his fate will lie in the marrow of those mere 7.76 percent registered African-American donors.
The Duke Red Cross Club is bringing the fight for Joshua's life to campus by sponsoring the Minority Bone Marrow Registry Drive, a two-day event beginning Friday in the Bryan Center. The goal of the event is not just to try to help Joshua, but also to increase the low percentage of registered minority donors--6.12 percent are Asian, 8.16 percent are Hispanic and only 2.04 percent are multiracial.
The main reason for the low minority participation is due to a lack of awareness and a general misconception of the procedure, said senior Sandeep Kishore, chair of the Duke Red Cross Club Cultural Diversity Committee.
"The process of marrow-typing is simple, painless and misunderstood. Many people actually think they'll have to have surgery in the Bryan Center if they donate. That's simply not true," he said. "All that we need is for you to fill out a short questionnaire and take a small blood sample from the arm, or even just a finger prick. The whole process takes less than 15 minutes."
Once willing registrants have been typed, they are entered into the national registry. Only if a match is made will the donor need to decide whether or not to go through with the transplant procedure, which includes two different options.
The first option is the traditional one- to two-hour surgery that removes a part of marrow from the back of the pelvic bone while the donor is under general or local anesthesia. Surgery recovery is quick, as marrow replenishes naturally within four to six weeks.
During the second option, called a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell donation, donors receive injections of Filgrastim for four or five consecutive days. Filgrastim is a drug that increases the number of stem cells released from the marrow into the blood stream so they can be collected. While the surgery option must take place at a hospital, the PBSC procedure can be done at a blood center. The side effects--bone and muscle pain, headache and fatigue--diminish over one to two days after the last dose of Filgrastim is given.
As the minority donor pool is so small, Central Carolina Red Cross has always covered the marrow-typing fee for minority donors. However, since there has been a recent interest in donating from Caucasian students on campus, Central Carolina has agreed to pay for 25 to 30 Caucasians to be typed as well.
Senior Greg Wolf, who was diagnosed with leukemia just last year when he was studying abroad in London, can personally attest to the need for participants of all races in such a drive. Wolf, who during his chemotherapy treatment at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital took classes at the University of Pennsylvania to keep up with his schoolwork, found a match in his 11-year-old sister. Without the transplant, however, he would have had only a 30% chance of survival.
"For those patients who don't have a sibling, their only hope is the registry," Wolf said.
This is the case for Joshua, as he could not find a match within the family. Thus, Duke Red Cross Club is rallying the University to increase his survival chance.
"We really want this to be a community effort. [We're] working in partnership with various minority groups such as Asian Student Association, Black Student Alliance, Latino Life, Diya, International Association and many others to try and come to together and alleviate the situation," said Kishore.
Inspired by Joshua's bleak situation, sophomore Steven Lin, Cultural Diversity Committee assistant chair, has composed an original solo piano album and will donate all proceeds to the Duke Pediatric Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Program. His album, which costs $8, is entitled "Dreams" and will be on sale this week.
The cause has also found support from other University community members. To kick off the "Dreams Initiative," Jack Chao, owner of the Wilson Recreational Center juice bar Quenchers, has agreed to join the "Initiative" and sell 25 copies.
"I thought Steven was doing a good thing and the Red Cross is doing a great job," said Chao. "I want to help out and do my part by [providing for sale] the copies to my customers."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.