Wheaton bone marrow drive for retired Air Force major
For 27 years, Marie Brady proudly served her country in the Air Force. Trained as a physician’s assistant, she helped many soldiers with medical care.
In 2007, she met and married her soul mate, Wheaton native Joe Alpers. The two set up housekeeping in a 120-year-old Denver home and Marie retired as a major. Life was good.
In 2010, Marie was diagnosed with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. She has been told that without a bone-marrow transplant, she may only live another two years.
That’s why Wheaton business Yoga by Degrees and Joe’s family are determined to help find a match for Marie with a bone marrow registry drive from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 18 and 19, at the Yoga By Degrees studio, 241 Rice Lake Square, near Whole Foods in Wheaton.
“The thing most people don’t realize is how easy joining the registry is,” says Sam Tan, account executive with Be the Match, the national marrow donation program.
“A simple cheek swab and a consent form is all it takes to be added to the registry. With some 10,000 people a year being diagnosed with leukemia and other blood-related illnesses, and 70 percent not able to find a match among blood relatives, building the registry is critical.”
John Hardison of Yoga By Degrees is a friend of both Joe and his brother, Wheaton accountant Chris Alpers. In fact, Chris lives about a mile from the yoga studio, which opened last spring.
Alpers describes his sister-in-law as “the salt of the earth. She would do anything for anybody. She’s a knowledgeable medical professional and a very giving person.”
“It’s a terrible feeling when you get a call from your best friend that his wife has been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and her only chance for survival is a bone marrow match,” Hardison says.
“It’s also a wake-up call that we can all do something by just taking a few minutes out of our lives to sign up for Be The Match Bone Marrow Registry. One simple, painless cheek swab may be the one that saves Marie’s or someone else’s life. What a great feeling that would be.”
While it is free to join the bone marrow registry, each swab must be typed, processed and stored in the registry. According to Tan, it costs roughly $100 per swab, which is why the National Marrow Donation Program is also seeking donations for the program.
Yoga by Degrees will make a donation of $5 per person to Be The Match for everyone who joins the bone marrow registry at the studio during the two-day drive.
According to the National Bone Marrow Donation Program, if a match is made, bone marrow donation is much easier today because most physicians request peripheral blood stem cell donations, for which the marrow extraction is a blood draw over several days. PBSC donors are typically back to their normal routine within a day or two.
Of the 8 million people on the registry, none is a perfect match for Marie.
“My husband Joe and I have always believed we have been blessed with wonderful families and friends, opportunities and good fortune,” Marie says.
“Our faith has not wavered. With the love and support we give to each other and get from our friends and supporters, we believe I will defeat this disease. I have spent my life helping others get well. It’s my hope that now, through the generosity of others, I will, too.”
For details on Yoga By Degrees’ two-day bone marrow registry drive, email YogaByDegreesMarrowDrive@gmail.com or call (630) 960-YOGA.
If you go
What: Bone marrow registry drive
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 18 and 19
Where: Yoga By Degrees, 241 Rice Lake Square, Wheaton
Cost: Free
Info: <a href="http://YogaByDegreesMarrowDrive@gmail.com [/URL]or (630) 960-YOGA">YogaByDegreesMarrowDrive@gmail.com </a>