ESC member gives gift of life, meets marrow recipient Published Sept. 7, 2006 By Monica D. Morales Electronic Systems Center Public Affairs HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Imagine opening your mailbox to find, instead of bills and fliers, a letter from a stranger expressing gratitude for your help in saving her life. For Patricia Martone, 350th Electronic Systems Wing military personnel specialist, this was her reality when two years after donating bone marrow, she recently connected with a recipient whose life she saved. "The letter said, 'Thank you for saving my life,' that she had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and had two months to live before getting the transplant," Ms. Martone said. Ms. Martone first became a donor in 2002, when a co-worker discovered her daughter had sickle cell anemia. Seeing the struggles firsthand prompted her to participate in an on-base marrow drive. "Knowing someone affected, knowing the lieutenant and knowing how sick her daughter was motivated me to give," she said. By joining the Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program, Ms. Martone was also added to the National Marrow Donor Program registry. The Minneapolis-based registry includes more than 5.5 million people who have donated marrow or blood cells to patients in need. In 2004, the registry contacted Ms. Martone to inform her she matched someone with leukemia. With the gracious leave donations of her co-workers at BAE Systems and the cooperation of military supervisors, Ms. Martone took time off to fly to Washington, D.C., and provide stem cell samples. Other than a quarterly patient update provided by the registry, Ms. Martone had little concept of who she was helping or where the patient lived. That uncertainty changed this year, when the registry contacted Ms. Martone with news that the recipient wanted to get in touch. After exchanging information through the registry, Ms. Martone received the letter of gratitude and made an added discovery. "I always pictured her living somewhere in the middle of the United States since it is a national registry," Ms. Martone said, "but she lived right here in Massachusetts, in Hudson." Shortly after receiving the recipient's letter, Ms. Martone decided to call her. They not only filled in the blanks surrounding the transplant and the donor process, but also decided to meet in Hudson for lunch that week. Through these conversations and their lunch meeting, the two learned more about the journeys each had taken as donor and recipient. For example, Ms. Martone's trip back from Washington, D.C., after giving a stem cell sample likely coincided with the sample's arrival in Worcester, where the transplant was performed. "It's like the stem cells and I probably flew back on the same plane," Ms. Martone said. During their lunch meeting, they also discovered that their marrow match had been a 10, far surpassing the resulting level 6 match of the recipient's own brother and sister. "The lunch was nice," Ms. Martone said. "We spent most of the time trying to find out if we're related, going through last names of mothers and grandmothers and maiden names, and trying to figure out if we could find the connection. We didn't find one yet." Though the two exchanged tokens of appreciation at their meeting, Ms. Martone said the greatest gift comes in the form of providing aid to someone in need. "I think I've made a lifelong friend," she said. " And just being able to help someone out is the most rewarding part to me." For those wavering on their decision to become a donor, Ms. Martone said the time and effort spent giving pales in comparison to the value of a life. "Definitely become a donor. It is not a big deal and such a simple thing for a person to go through," she said. "It's somebody's life that could be saved, and that's a huge deal to them." For more information about the DOD Marrow Donor Program, call 800-627-7693 or visit www.dodmarrow.com.