Technical sergeant in business of saving a life ... twice

  • Published
  • By Trisha Schmalz
  • Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFPN) --  Being able to save a life is amazing, but having the opportunity to save the life of the same person twice, is remarkable.

Tech. Sgt. Mari Navarro, NCO in charge of military personnel field activities for the manpower, personnel and services directorate at Air Force Space Command here, already saved a life as a bone marrow donor.

On Nov. 8 in Washington, D.C., Sergeant Navarro again donated her blood stem cells to the same woman she first helped three years ago.

The patient relapsed and the National Marrow Donor Program contacted Sergeant Navarro to ask if she was willing to be a donor again, and she said "of course."

"In this case the recipient was well for three years, and now she needs me again," Sergeant Navarro said. "So I'll donate again and again and again, and however many times they need me to help prolong her life."

Most people associate donating bone marrow with a surgical procedure where the patient is under anesthesia and has the marrow extracted from the back of the pelvic bone area.

The process through which Sergeant Navarro will be donating is known as Peripheral Blood Stem Cell donation.

According to the NMDP Web site, the PBSC donation involves removing a donor's blood through a sterile needle in one arm. The blood is passed through a machine that separates out the cells used in transplants. The remaining blood is then returned to the donor's bloodstream through the other arm.

"The blood stem cell donation takes seven hours, and you can't move," said Sergeant Navarro. "You just sit there with a needle in one arm and a needle in the other."

Prior to the donation, Sergeant Navarro receives a series of shots of protein called filgrastim, every day for five days before the donation.

"What the filgrastim does is build up and move blood-forming cells, also known as stem cells, from your marrow into your bloodstream," Sergeant Navarro said. "Then they can pull the stem cells from your circulating blood."

While Sergeant Navarro didn't suffer any side effects after her first donation, she did experience some discomfort prior to and during the donation.

"The filgrastim can make you really sick," she said. "In my case it just gave me massive headaches."

The National Bone Marrow Program donor information guide says filgrastim can cause headaches, bone or muscle pain, nausea, trouble sleeping and tiredness. However, these side effects should subside one to two days after receiving the last dose, and all side effects should be gone within a week after the donation.

"The discomfort you have for a week or couple of months with all of the blood work and everything else is nothing compared to someone possibly dying, having to go through chemotherapy, and whatever else is needed to get ready to accept the donation," Sergeant Navarro said.

According to the NMDP Web site, 70 percent of patients in need of a transplant will not have a match within their family, so they depend on donors like Sergeant Navarro.

"I've always been about donating blood," Sergeant Navarro said. "Since joining the Air Force I began donating, and it was during one of those blood drives that I had the chance to sign up for the bone marrow program."

Becoming a bone marrow donor is easy to do. People can visit the NMDP Web site to complete the online registration form, visit the local NMDP donor center in Denver, or sign up at a local donor drive.

If someone is a possible match, the NMDP will contact that individual and ask if the person is still interested in being a donor, said Sergeant Navarro.

The NMDP counselors stress that while transplantation is a life-saving therapy, not all recipients survive. Sometimes a patient's body cannot withstand the pre-transplant chemotherapy and radiation. Sometimes health complications occur after the transplant.

However, for many recipients, a transplant is successful, and it's their best or only option. So when Sergeant Navarro donated her blood stem cells again, hopefully she will be giving the recipient a third chance at life.

"It's amazing to be able to say or think to yourself that you helped extend someone's life, again," Sergeant Navarro said.

For more information about joining the NMDP registry, please visit the NMDP Web site at: www.marrow.org

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