Incirlik supports marrow drive

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Lauren Padden
  • 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
INCIRLIK AiR BASE, Turkey --  Currently, more than 500 people across the Department of Defense await a bone marrow transplant, a procedure designed to treat as many as 70 potentially fatal diseases by replacing diseased marrow with healthy marrow from a donor.

To help find matches for these 500 patients, Incirlik is sponsoring a wing-wide bone marrow drive Oct. 27-31 open to any active duty or civilian between the ages of 18 - 60.

"There are only two reasons why a person can't register for this drive: they have cancer or are HIV positive," said Lea Tims, 39th Force Support Squadron POC. "It doesn't matter if you received hepatitis or anthrax shots, have a tattoo, or where you have lived - you can still register to be a donor."

After completing the registration questionnaire and swabbing the insides of the donor's cheek, a DNA sample is mailed to Washington D.C. for analysis and compared against a list of patients requiring a marrow donation.

"One in 300 people actually have a chance at being a donor match. With 2,000 donation packets being handed out on base, seven of those registered might be a possible match," said Lieutenant Price, Incirlik marrow donor coordinator.

Ms. Tims personally understands the value of a marrow match.

While stationed at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., Ms. Tims and her husband, Chaplain Lt. Col. James Tims, 39th Air Base Wing chaplain, organized a marrow drive to find a match for a friend with leukemia. The drive didn't produce a match but a match was found through the C.W. Bill Young program.

Department of Defense bone marrow patients are registered on the C.W. Bill Young DoD Marrow Donor Program list which links DoD patients awaiting a transplant with a healthy donor.

"Without people who step up and say, 'I really want to do this,' people die," said Ms. Tims. "This is an amazing opportunity to affect the life of someone else."

The donation procedure is painless, minus the prick of the IV, and lasts between two and three hours.

"In the past, a local anesthetic was administered before a large needle was inserted in your back to draw out the marrow," said Lieutenant Price. "Very rarely is this procedure used today because an easier procedure has been adapted."

The new procedure is less intrusive as it collects peripheral blood stem cells in a process similar to donating blood.

For more information regarding bone marrow donation see your squadron representative or visit www.dodmarrow.com