Contact: Maridith Geuder
A Mississippi State University student who made a bone marrow donation for someone she had never met gets a chance Friday [Sept. 26] to see the results of her gift in national ceremonies.
Senior Adrienne Y. Brown of Cleveland is the only donor in the nation selected this year by the National Marrow Donor Program to meet the person who received her marrow. Normally, identities remain confidential.
Brown, the daughter of Allie Brown, became a donor while enrolled at Alcorn State University.
The donor program is flying her to Minneapolis, Minn., to meet a young recipient who suffers from chronic myelogenous leukemia, said Suzanne Files, donor center coordinator at the Mississippi Marrow Donor Program.
"Because of Adrienne's donation, this young man is now able to be back in school," she said.
Found inside the larger bones of the body, marrow produces platelets, red blood cells and white blood cells, the main agents of the body's immune system. It can be removed with a special syringe-usually from the pelvis--and donated to patients with life-threatening diseases such as leukemia, aplastic anemia, or 60 other potentially fatal diseases.
The level of match for bone marrow must be closer than that for heart, liver and other organ transplants, Files said.
"I registered when I was a freshman at Alcorn," said Brown, a biology major who plans to become a nurse. "The marrow donor program called me later to say I was a perfect match."
Although she'd never before undergone a surgical procedure, she said she never hesitated to become a marrow donor.
"It's such a rare chance to be a match," she said. "I couldn't imagine not doing it."
There are 115 donor centers in the nation, including the University Medical Center in Jackson, where in 1996 Brown's marrow was harvested.
"Each year, one donor and one recipient are selected to meet each other at the national meeting," Files said. "We nominated Adrienne because she's such an outstanding example of what this program can do."
The National Marrow Donor Program maintains a registry of more than 2 million volunteers willing to donate marrow. The program has facilitated nearly 6,000 unrelated marrow transplants, including 753 for minority patients.
On Oct. 7, the Mississippi State chapter of Golden Key honor society, in cooperation with Mississippi Blood Services, will sponsor a bone marrow donor drive in the Colvard Union. For more information, telephone Hillary Haynes at (601) 324-6160.