Volume 125 Issue 66
kansan.com
Monday, February 4, 2013
SAVE A LIFE
FIGHTING FOR A FUTURE
Student organizes marrow donor drive in light of husband's diagnosis
Jonathan Mathews poses for a family photo with his wife, Sharilyn, and two children. Mathews was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010. He was declared in remission, but doctors discovered that he had a hodgkin lymphoma mass in his chest last year.
CONTRIBUTED PHTOTO
EMILY DONOVAN edonovan@kansan.com
When Jonathan Mathews, a healthy, active duty Air National Guardsman, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2010, he and his wife, Sharilyn, were shocked. After his cancer was declared in remission, they thought he was in the clear. Two years later, his doctors discovered a Hodgkin lymphoma mass in his chest. A marrow donor's sacrifice will help Jonathan through his chemotherapy treatment this March.
The couple has organized a marrow donor registration drive today in the Traditions Area on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registrants from today's donor drive may be a match for cancer patients like Jonathan who are in need of healthy marrow to get their immune systems working again.
"It's opened my eyes," Sharilyn said. "I never thought of being on a registry. I didn't even know a registry existed for this kind of stuff. I never thought of cancer because it never affected me before."
Jonathan's chemotherapy and treatment regimen will require him to receive a stem cell transplant. Be the Match, a registry run by the National Marrow Donor Program, lists 9.5 potential donors. Only two registered
individuals match Jonathan's DNA chromosomes, and both are international donors.
"This could happen to anybody," Sharilyn said. "You don't think that someone that's young—that's 22—is going to get cancer and then need a stem cell transplant—twice. It really can happen to anybody, no matter how healthy you are."
Annually, 53,000 people are diagnosed with either Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Registering as
"We're just one of the many families that are going through the exact same thing."
a potential donor, Sharilyn realized, is a simple act that could potentially save a life.
"At first, I really thought that no one's going to care." Sharilyn said. "But we're just one of many families that are going through the exact same thing."
Potential donors must be between 18 and 44 years old. Registration requires legal identification such as a driver's license or passport, filling out a small amount of paperwork and a Q-tip swab of the inside of the cheek.
The donor and patient must have the same human leukocyte antigen tissue type. Fundraising will take care of the lab fees, which cost $100 to check each potential donor for an exact chromosomal match. Between collecting donations online and fundraisers at a church at Jonathan's hometown in Lecompton and at UnderGround Lab Fitness, the Mathews have already raised more than $5,100. Another fundraiser is scheduled for next month.
Sharilyn's fundraising goal is to raise more money than the number of people that register to donate so that any additional funds can help
SHARILYN MATHEWS
Wife of Jonathan Mathews
another registration drive down the road. She's hoping to register as many potential donors as possible, since the National Marrow Donor Program can financially back up the registration drive.
A full sibling has a 50-percent chance to match, but Jonathan's brother did not match. On average, only one in 540 people who register to donate are found as a match to someone in need.
"You're already putting your name on a list to save a life, the least we can do is not have you pay a penny" Sharlyn said.
If a donor is found to match, he or she may be asked to donate marrow or peripheral blood stem cells.
Marrow donation is a surgical procedure requiring general or regional anesthesia where a doctor makes a few incisions and uses a needle to collect bone marrow from the pelvic bone. The donor may experience discomfort or side effects for a few days to a few weeks after the procedure.
Peripheral blood stem cell donation does not require surgery or anesthesia. Before the procedure, the donor receives a shot of filgastim, a prescription drug that helps the body produce white blood cells, which creates extra stem cells that seep into the bloodstream. The donor then goes to a hospital where blood is drawn from one arm, run through a machine to separate the platelets that contain the extra stem cells and pumped back in through the other arm. This procedure is similar to donating blood plasma and takes about five hours and could be spread over two days.
The donating process is largely anonymous. Some centers allow direct contact between patient and donor, but only after one year or more has passed.
"Someone will greatly appreciate your donation," Jonathan said.
During his first battle with cancer, Jonathan underwent an autologous stem cell transplant in Sept. 2010. Essentially, Jonathan donated peripheral blood stem cells for himself a month before his treatment and was injected with his own stem cells to restart his immune system during chemotherapy.
When his immune system is fragile after he receives a peripheral blood stem cell donation in conjunction with chemotherapy and possibly radiation therapy this March, Jonathan will have to be in isolation. He'll be staying at Hope Lodge, a free housing facility sponsored by the American Cancer Society for patients receiving treatment in
Kansas City, and receiving treatment from the Cancer Treatment Center at KU Medical Center's Westwood Campus. While Jonathon is taking a break from classes this semester for treatment, with only nine credit hours left before he receives his bachelor's, Sharilyn will try to work with her professors to balance her pre-nursing program with caring for her husband and two sons.
Jonathan's cancer fight is covered through military medical insurance—both he and Sharilyn joined the Air National Guard in 2006. They've found support through cancer programs and fellow survivors who have reached out to them in the recent months.
"Two years ago, we would get a gas card for gas from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society," Sharilyn said. "The money that people raise actually does get to people like us and families that are going through cancer and chemo. You never know
when it's going to hit your life or your family"
Now that cancer has affected their lives, they hope to help others get through similar struggles.
"We plan on hopefully doing these kinds of events regularly, turning them into annual events somehow—if we can handle it," Jonathan said.
To donate to the registration drive, visit the Mathews' page at bethematfoundation.org.
Edited by Elise Reuter
HOW TO HELP
WHAT: Bone marrow
registration drive
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
WHERE: Kansas Union
SENATE
Coalitions prepare for election season, host kickoff parties
KUnited and Ad Astra, the coalitions running in the Student Senate elections in April, both hosted their kickoff parties at The Burger Stand, 803 Massachusetts St., last week.
HANNAH BARLING
hbarling@kansan.com
Topeka senior Brandon Woodard, KUUnited's 2013 presidential candidate, said about 80 people showed up to their kickoff party last Wednesday. Woodard
Blaine Bengtson, a junior from Salina, is KUnited's 2013 vice presidential candidate. He is a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences senator and director of Recycle and Blue KU, a past KUnited platform and Student Senate's recycling program
"It was nice to see each other in a social environment," Woodard said.
said this was more of a meet-and-greet because KUnited has its regular business meetings on Sundays.
on football game days. Bengtson said Student Senate has incredible opportunities every year to affect students on a larger scale.
"The experience of giving back to KU at that level is something I wanted to do, and serving as vice president will give me that opportunity" Bengtson said.
KUnited has been brainstorming ideas and formulating their platforms for the upcoming election in the spring.
Ad Astra's presidential candidate for next year, Marcus Tetweiller, is a junior from Paola. He is serving as transportation coordinator for the University this year. Tetweiller said Ad Astra has been working on outreach with student groups that are already involved on campus, but not necessarily with Student Senate.
"It's been a positive process of laying the ground work so far," Tetweller said.
Emma Halling, a junior from Elkhart, Ind., is running as Ad Astra's 2013 vice president. She is serving as Student Senate's associate finance senator this year. Halling said about 30 people showed up to their kickoff party at The Burger Stand on Jan. 27.
Halling said they started brain-storming platforms and ideas at the kickoff party.
One of Ad Astras main goals is to have a sense of transparency across the board. Presidential candidate Marcus Tetweiller said regardless of how much experience a member has had, they should never hesitate to speak up.
Index
"We have people in our coalition with great ideas to put into action on campus," Tetweiller said.
CRYPTOQUIPS 5
OPINION 4
Edited by Julie Etzler
CLASSIFIEDS 6
CROSSWORD 5
SPORTS 8
SUDOKU 5
in contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2013 The University Daily Kansan
Don't forget
Check out all the entertaining Super Bowl XLVII commercials you missed at nfl.com.
Today's Weather
Gee, it's forty-three!