Student gives bonemarrow, saves life

For most people, volunteering to help the less fortunate would not extend to spending a day in the hospital getting needled hundreds of times in the lower back. But for Monika Bhuta, an Engineering graduate student, giving bone marrow to help a perfect stranger was never an issue.

"I never thought twice about giving the marrow. 'No' was never an option for me," she said about her decision to donate bone marrow.

SARA SCHENCK/Daily Engineering graduate student Monika Bhuta practices for the upcoming Indian American Student Assocation show yesterday. Bhuta donated bone marrow to a 25-year-old anonymous female patient recently.

Bhuta, will be honored Oct. 14 by the Washtenaw County chapter of the American Red Cross as a Lifesaving Red Cross hero for giving marrow and saving the life of an anonymous 25-year-old female.

"I wouldn't call myself a hero; it was a moral duty to do this," Bhuta said. "I'd like to think that if the opportunity to save someone's life came for such a small price, anyone would take it."

For Bhuta, the cost of saving another person's life included three weeks of soreness and back pain synonymous only to "someone whacking you in the back with a bat," she said.

Bhuta said she did not know about the Red Cross National Bone Marrow Program until she attended an Indian professional conference in New York City in May 1997. There, she learned of the need for more minorities and people of ethnic descent to donate bone marrow and help save lives.

According to the University Medical Center officials, most samples in the national and international bone marrow registry are from white donors.

Following the conference, it was only a matter of time from when Bhuta gave a sample of blood and when a match was found for her blood type.

Bone marrow registration takes about 15 minutes and requires only two teaspoons of blood. If a potential match is found for a donor, a bone marrow transplant may be performed.

"The procedure is safe," said James Ferrara, professor of medicine and pediatrics at the Medical School. But there is a 30 percent mortality rate for those patients whose immune systems do not accept the foreign bone marrow.

The University Medical Center performs about 50 transplants a month in internal and pediatric medicine. The center is also involved with the National Marrow Donor Program which facilitates nearly 1,200 transplants each year. Most patients are adults, but nearly a quarter are children.

"As the procedure becomes safer, we'll be able to use it on patients with less sever disorders" Ferrara said.

On Oct. 23, the University Medical Center will be running a one-day symposium regarding bone marrow transplants and the effects of donating.

"We're very excited about it," said Ferrara, director of the symposium, titled, "Bone Marrow Transplants: Immunotherapy in the 21st Century."

Bhuta's advice for anyone considering bone marrow registration is this: "Know that you can save a life with only a few minutes of your own time.

"It's a small step for us, but huge step for someone who needs the marrow. I am 24 and the person I helped was 25. Her life was nearly ending when I thought mine hadn't even begun," she said.

For more information on donating or registering for bone marrow transplants, contact the National Bone Marrow Donor Program at 1-800-MARROW-2 or visit the group's Website at www.marrow.org.

10-11-99