Volume 125 Issue 86
kansan.com
Monday, March 11, 2013
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APARTMENT GUIDE INSIDE
I'VE ALWAYS BEEN SELFISH.
I'm trying to be selfish again. Trying to take it all, I WANT TO OWN IT.
I don't really like splitting things. Senior guard Elijah Johnson on sharing the Big 12 Title
STRAIGHT
READ MORE ON PAGE 1B
'WE'RE STILL HOLDING OUT HOPE'
LIVING WITH LEUKEMIA
Graduate remains without bone marrow match; family sets up registration drive
Doug Hollar, Laura Hollar's father, talks to students about his daughter's need for a marrow transplant. A registry will be held through Be The Match today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the KU Credit Union.
BRITTANY THIESING/KANSAN
EMILY DONOVAN edonovan@kansan.com
Laura Hollar, 24, didn't expect to face a challenge like acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After first being hospitalized on Dec. 26, Hollar is currently in remission in an intensive 30-day round of chemotherapy, staying in inpatient treatment at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
If this round of chemotherapy eliminates her cancerous cells, Hall will receive a stem cell transplant to re-start her immune system. She finds herself applying her Cellular Biology undergraduate knowledge to make decisions about her treatment options and to assure her family.
After graduating from the University in May 2012, Hollar had planned to take a gap year and apply to medical and chiropractic schools. Instead of backpacking through Europe this summer, she now plans to recover in outpatient care.
"I took a class my junior year called Molecular Biology of Cancer," Hollar said. "I've been actually passing that textbook around to my family."
"I've had everything from headaches to mouth sores to nausea," Hollar said. "I used to run and do yoga, and I've lost 90 percent of my muscle."
Potential donors must be between 18 and 44 years old. To register, potential donors must bring legal identification, fill out basic paperwork and swab a Q-tip on the inside of the cheek. A bone marrow donation with the same human leukocyte antigen tissue type helps to restart the immune system of cancer patients like Hollar.
The process of donating stem cells, said Kelly Allen from Overland Park. was easy and seamless.
WHEN: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
WHERE: KU Credit Union
3400 W. 6th St.
BRING: Legal identification,
paperwork and Q-tips
Find out more about
Be the Match here:
http://bit.ly/VXtqT
"We want to get healthy, young people on the registry because they can be on the registry for 20-plus years," Lapham said.
In December, Be the Match contacted Allen, who registered as a potential bone marrow donor in 2010 because she was a preliminary antigen tissue match. After agreeing to go forward with a peripheral blood stem cell donation, Allen received another phone call within two hours. She went to a lab to get bloodwork done that very day. A few weeks later, she was confirmed as a near-perfect match and, after basic physical and blood work to make sure she was healthy, she was flown to Georgetown University in
HOW TO HELP
Read more about Hellen's fight against cancer: http://bit.ly/VqM5
row drive held on campus in February, Hollar's stepfather, Doug Lapham, has worked with Be the Match, a registry run by the National Marrow Donor Program, to organize a bone marrow registration drive today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the KU Credit Union, 3400 W.6th St.
Partially inspired by the Sharilyn and Jonathan Mathews mar-
Attend the drive
Washington, D.C.
Five days before the procedure on Dec. 22, 2012, Allen received an injection of filgrastim, a prescription drug that encourages the body to produce extra white blood cells, which then create extra stem cells that seep into the bloodstream. During four hours of watching movies and chatting with fellow donors, Allen had blood drawn from one arm, run through a machine to separate the platelets that contain the extra stem cells, and had the blood pumped back in through her other arm.
Index
CLASSIFIEDS 2B CRYPTOQUOPS 5A SPORTS 1B
CROSSWORD 5A OPINION 4A SUCKOU 5A
Allen said. "It's not chemical, it's not made in the lab, it's something that one person can give to another and it has a huge success rate. You get to be a part of something special."
While most donations can be done through peripheral blood stem cell donation like Allen's, which does not require anesthesia, marrow donation is a surgical procedure where a doctor makes a few incisions and uses a needle to collect bone marrow from the pelvic bone. Allen, who will be attending the registration drive to support, wants to dispel the myth that donating is painful or scary.
A month after her donation, Be the Match notified Allen that her recipient accepted her stem cells and he is now recovering. Because the donation process is anonymous, Allen doesn't know the individual whose life her bone marrow has saved. She hopes to meet him if both she and her recipient are willing one year after the donation.
"What I love about both Be the Match Foundation and the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society is that they have a direct impact on not only research but patient support," Allen said. "There's no other charitable organization that can immediately save a life so quickly and with such great impact."
"This is one of the only forms of cancer that there is actually a cure,"
SEE CANCER PAGE 3A
All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2013 The University Daily Kansan
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Today's Weather
It's the last week before Spring Break!
Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny in the afternoon.
Enjoy the extra hour of sun.