Giving The Gift Of Life

UConn Rower Goes Under The Knife For Stranger

 

By Brittany Dorn

Courtesy of The Daily Campus

When University of Connecticut junior rower Liz Harsley got the call telling her she was the perfect bone marrow match for a young girl in desperate need of a transplant, she didn't hesitate.

"I absolutely knew I wanted to do it," said Harsley, a fourth-semester biology major and avid rowing team member. "There was no question in my mind."

Harsley, who was Carlee Wines' roommate her freshman year, said Wines encouraged her to attend the on-campus bone marrow drive held on Nov. 29, 2006 in the Student Union Ballroom. Wines was killed two months later in a hit-and-run accident on campus.

"The only reason I came to the drive was because she convinced me to," Harsley said. "I probably wouldn't have even known about it."

At the drive, students' mouths were swabbed and the results were added to a database. According to Hillel's Assistant Director Edy Fink, about 100 students came to the drive, which was held for the first time the year before.

"Over 100 the second year is a great turnout," said Fink, who explained that a person needs to only have his/her mouth swabbed once to be permanently part of the system.

Harsley received the call telling her she was a match just two days before the one-year anniversary of Wines' death. After various doctors' appointments and blood tests, she underwent surgery on Wednesday, Feb. 20, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She is now back on campus recovering.

Harsley - who has aspirations of becoming a veterinarian - said she wasn't too fazed by the two-hour surgery, which consisted of doctors making 200 small holes into the bone of her lower-back. She only has four visible marks on her skin, because the skin was moved with the needles when puncturing the bone. She won't have any scars.

Harsley was on general anesthesia for the entirety of the surgery, but awoke to a great deal of pain - which she compared to the feeling of a broken bone. While in the hospital, she was put on morphine. Now she's taking prescription medicine and aspirin.

"Imagine you have a really bad migraine - but it's in your lower back," Harsley said of the pain she currently feels. She called it an "annoying discomfort."

Harsley missed three days of school, but was back in class Monday.

"All of my teachers were very understanding," she said. And then, laughing: "I guess not too many people use the 'I donated bone marrow' excuse."

She also missed over a week of crew practice, which was perhaps more frustrating for her.

It's hard to sit on the sidelines," she said of watching her team members practice. She hopes to be participating again this week.

Harsley donated her bone marrow through The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, which was established in 1991 to save the life of Jay Feinberg, a leukemia patient.

During the course of four years, 60,000 people registered as possible donors - the very last of whom was the perfect match and able to save Feinberg's life, according to the foundation's Web site.

Since then, the Gift of Life has grown. It now maintains a registry of over 120,000 potential donors and has facilitated transplants for over 1,500 people in need.

"One of our goals is to increase the number of young people in our registry," said Miriam Laing, marketing and communication coordinator at the Gift of Life.

In accordance with the foundation's policies, Harsley isn't allowed to know the name of the 15-year-old patient who received her bone marrow. However, in three months she will be given an update on how the patient is doing. In a year, if both parties agree, the two may be able to meet.

During her stay in the hospital, Harsley was allowed to write an anonymous letter to the girl - their only means of communication at this time.

"Everyone told me I'm so brave for doing this, but you're the braver one, for battling this whole thing," Harsley wrote. The recipient has aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder in which the body doesn't produce enough new blood cells.

Harsley said that as a result of receiving her bone marrow, the recipient will also assume her blood type and allergies: in Harsley's case this means an aversion to shellfish and bee-stings. The recipient's hair color and texture might also change to mimic's Harsley.

Before a recipient accepts new bone marrow, he or she must undergo an intensive round of both chemotherapy and radiation to kill off as many of their sick blood cells as possible, according to Laing. Because of this, their blood type changes to that of their donor.

Melissa Harsley, Liz's mother, said that while she was initially a little apprehensive about the surgery, she is incredibly proud of her daughter for going through with it.

"It's an incredible thing that she was able to do," she said.

She commended UConn for holding the bone marrow drive as well as the way Wines encouraged Liz to go.

"It's tremendous," she said. "Good is still coming out of Carlee Wines."

Fink - who was unaware of the drive's success until being contacted by The Daily Campus - agreed.

"I'm really proud of her," she said. "I don't know her, but I'm proud she's a student here. She's a hero on campus."

Although Harsley is hesitant to accept praise, she responds quickly when asked if she would donate again.

"Absolutely," she said. "Yea it's painful, but you get over it. You kind of figure the outcome is so much more important than two weeks of discomfort."