Updated
27 June 2006
8-year-old Marie George is a member of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church of Indianapolis. She has been suffering with numerous symptoms since September 2005 and has been in and out of hospitals in various parts of the country. Marie remains at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She's been undergoing chemotherapy and viral drug treatments that are prerequisites for a bone marrow transplant.
In addition to requesting your prayers, I appeal to you to consider placing yourself on the National Bone Marrow Registry. You are eligible to be tested if you are 18-60 years old and in general good health.
Please also pass this request on to your family, friends, co-workers, and to their prayer and Bible study groups and religious communities.
The children of our parish—who want to do something for Marie but are too young to be tested—are making special gifts with a photo of Marie to give to everyone who is tested.
I thank you from the bottom of my heart, trusting that you will respond with an outpouring of Christ-like love on behalf of one of these little ones of His through your prayers and your preparedness to give a gift of life. May the Lord have mercy on us all.
Yours in Christ,
Father Nabil
Though there are millions of people already in the registry, Marie was not found to match anyone in the national or international databases. We’d like to test as many more people as possible, at least several thousand, and give the results to Marie’s doctors. If they can’t find an exact match, they can use a donation from someone who’s a close match. Unfortunately, the national database only returns exact matches—of which there are none—that’s why we have to get the results directly to Marie’s doctors. No one from Marie’s immediate family was found to be a suitable match, and the doctors tell us that the match may likely come from someone totally unrelated, even from a different ethnic or racial background, so we need to test many people.
Note also that if you don’t match Marie, you may be able to help someone else in Marie’s name, just like the millions of people who could have been potential donors for her from the registry.
You must be between 18 and 60 years old and in general good health. You cannot have had cancer (except for small skin or breast cancers that have been treated successfully), heart disease (except controlled hypertension) or immune system diseases (other than seasonal allergies). See here for more information.
No. Blood type and Rh factors do not matter for donating bone marrow. (In fact Marie will have the donor's blood type after the transplant.)
You only need to give a couple of small vials of blood for typing, not a pint like when you donate blood (but you may choose to donate blood at the same time, at your option). It’s painless to give a sample.
You can be tested by going to the Indiana Blood Center (3450 N Meridian Street, Indianapolis, 317-916-5110, ask for Melissa) during their normal hours (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.; Tuesday, 9 a.m. - 8 p.m.; Friday, 7 a.m. - 4 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. - noon). Please be sure to designate that the results be sent to the doctors attending Marie George. Alternatively, see the procedure for those who live outside Indianapolis, below, for a home test kit.
Please call your local blood center, and ask for a test kit that can be mailed to your home, or order a kit on line here. You swab your mouth, and mail the swab back to the Blood Center. You can also contact local blood banks for an individual test or to set up a large group for testing like we’re doing in Indianapolis, but please ask to receive a copy of your typing results, and then fax or mail them to us at St. George Church (4020 N. Sherman Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46226, Fax 317-547-4520), and we'll forward them to the doctors attending Marie at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
There is a $52 tax-deductible donation to the Indiana Blood Center for their cost to do the typing. (We thank those who so generously donated funds to allow those who wanted to be tested but could not afford it to be tested. Those funds have now been depleted.)
Ask the blood center where you were tested (you may have a donor card that gives their contact information) to mail or fax you a copy of your typing results. Please then fax or mail them to us at St. George Church (4020 N. Sherman Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46226, Fax 317-547-4520), and we'll forward them to the doctors attending Marie at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
If you are found to be a suitable match for Marie (or for anyone else in need, via the registry), the procedure involves withdrawing some bone marrow from a hip bone with a needle, under anesthesia. No incisions are necessary. You will leave the hospital that day and should be totally fine by evening. You can donate the bone marrow in a local hospital (at either IU Medical Center or St. Francis Hospital for those who live in the Indianapolis area), and there is no cost to the donor.
In support of the efforts to find a bone marrow match for Marie, the children (all ages) are invited to join us in making angel pins. These pins will be given as a gift of gratitude to all those who are tested on June 12 (and throughout the Archdiocese, as we’re trying to set up testing in other parishes as well). Our start date for the project will be Sunday June 4 at 9 a.m. We will continue to meet each Sunday at 9 a.m. during the summer months. This project will take the place of a Vacation Church School program as we will be having short lessons with each session. Attendance will not be taken but we encourage you to bring your children to be a part of this important project. If you would like to be involved or have any questions please see Yana Dumbauld during coffee hour or call the church office. (Parents of pre-schoolers/kindergartners: we would ask for you to stay with your child to help their little hands do God’s work!)