Bone Marrow Vs. Blood Transfusion

by teenyuck 9 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  teenyuck

  I just got a call from my mother and I need some information.

  My male cousin (never baptised) Jason has cancer. He needs a bone marrow transplant. My mother called to tell me that my aunt called my sister (who has a brain tumor) and asked her to donate or at least be tested.

  While my mother was talking I went into google and pulled up the National Marrow Donor Program website.

  This is what I pulled off:

  defer the cost of your testing by asking for a donation of whole blood or blood components.

  Q: Describe the stem cell donation process.

  A: When you donate marrow, it is removed with a surgical needle from the back of your pelvic bone. All marrow donors are given either general or regional anesthesia. Usually, four to eight tiny incisions are made in the pelvic area. These incisions are so small that stitches are not necessary. The procedure lasts between 45 and 90 minutes. Marrow is constantly regenerating itself and is replaced within several weeks.

  For a donation of peripheral blood stem cells, the donor receives one injection of Filgrastim each day for four to five days. Filgrastim is a drug that increases the number of stem cells released from the bone marrow into the blood stream. The stem cells are collected from the blood stream through a process called apheresis. During apheresis, which is done at a blood center or a hospital, your blood is removed through a sterile needle placed in a vein in one arm and passed through an apheresis machine that separates out the stem cells. The remaining blood, minus the stem cells, is returned through a sterile needle placed in a vein in the other arm.

  Q: How are patients matched with donors?

  A: Proteins called antigens are found on the surface of the white blood cells and other body tissue. Particular antigens, named HLA-A, HLA-B and HLA-DR are essential to the success of stem cell transplants. These antigens are used to "match" a patient with a donor. When looking for a match it's important to remember that people of the same race and ethnic groups are more likely to match each other.

  My mother asked why my cousin's brother was not donating. I said perhaps the Society says no. He (the healthy brother) is an MS at his cong and by giving then recycling your blood, you are still getting a blood transfusion.

  My mother insists that this would never be the case and she would have no problem donating blood to someone. (WTF??!! She is messed up) She refused to answer if the Society has rules on this.

  My question: What is the society's stance on this? I want to be armed to give info to my mother when I speak to her again.

  Thanks for any input!
• 

  rocketman

  I'm not sure of the Society's view on this. I do find it very odd that your mom (a pretty staunch jw from what you've told us, if memory serves) would say that she would have no problem donating to someone.
• 

  teenyuck

  Hi Rocketman,

  I asked her how she could jusify this? "Well I would have no problem donating, because it's not really a transfusion...they go in take some blood stuff and put it back in. Not the same at all."

  I read her the statements I cut and pasted. She said they are two different things and she would have no problem!

  Yes, she is a staunch JW and obviously has no qualms about breaking the rules to fit her agenda.
• 

  Jourles

  Maybe this post will help you a little on Apheresis blood donation ---

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/16/48760/1.ashx

  I will also send you an IM about something else related.
• 

  teenyuck

  Thank you Jourles!!!

  Wonderful!!! That is the exact procedure they explain in a bone marrow donation.

  They are taking blood, removing what they want (stem cells) and recirculating it back in.

  I am going to e-mail my mother the WT articles. She sent me the WT-CD a while ago so I can tell her I researched.

  Thank you so much. I will check all the related sites.

  I checked the WTBTS page and they do not discuss bone marrow.

  Your post was very good. They are finding ways around their own rules. You really need to read between the lines....which the R & F are never going to do.

  I am also going to e-mail these to my healthy cousin and ask him to share them with his mother my aunt.
• 

  teenyuck

  Hypothetical:

  I have not seen the ill cousin since he was about 11. He is now in his early 30's. If asked, would you donate to someone you did not know? I saw his mother (my mother's sister) at an uncle's funeral about 1 1/2 years ago. I had not seen her in about 22 years. She and my mom are on the outs and have not spoken in years either.

  My cousin is in California (orange county) and I am in Ohio. I really don't know him. His brother, who came to the uncle's funeral, is now and MS and I made it quite clear that I was not going to *come back to Jehovah* and I wanted nothing to do with the religion.

  I have e-mailed many times since the funeral and have never gotten one response from my aunt or MS cousin.

  I sent an e-mail to my aunt and cousin today, offering to do a bone marrow test if needed. I cited how hard it is to find a bone marrow donor.

  I have not heard back and I doubt I will. My aunt really despises my mother and I suppose me by extention.
• 

  ScoobySnax

  Teenyuck.....not sure if you got the answers you wanted or not. I could call HLC locally from our hospital and find out for you the stance of the WBTS in relation to bone marrow transplants if that helps you. All the best. Scott
• 

  UnDisfellowshipped

  The Blood Policies of the Watchtower Society are so incredibly confusing and contradictory, it is hard for me to even explain them.

  I have put together another Thread with about 30+ Questions for people to ask Jehovah's Witnesses about their Blood Policies.

  Here is the latest Watchtower Article on Bone Marrow Transplants:

  The Watchtower, May 15, 1984 Issue, Page 31:

  Questions From Readers

  · Could a Christian accept a bone-marrow transplant, since blood is made in the marrow?

  Doctors perform most bone-marrow transplants by withdrawing some marrow from a donor (often a near relative) and then injecting or transfusing it into the sick patient. They hope that the marrow graft will reach the patient’s marrow cavities and later function normally. Usually this procedure is considered only in critical cases (such as aplastic anemia or acute leukemia) for there are acknowledged hazards in preparing a person for a marrow graft and in treating him afterward.

  As the question itself notes, red blood cells are formed in the marrow of certain bones such as the ribs, sternum and pelvic bones. Hence, it is understandable why, in the light of the Bible’s prohibition on blood, the question arises whether a Christian could accept a graft of human bone marrow.

  The Bible states clearly that God’s servants must ‘abstain from blood.’ (Acts 15:28, 29; Deuteronomy 12:15, 16) But, since red cells originate in the red bone marrow, do the Scriptures class marrow with blood? No. In fact, animal marrow is spoken of like any other flesh that could be eaten. Isaiah 25:6 says that God will prepare for his people a banquet that includes “well-oiled dishes filled with marrow.” Normal slaughtering and drainage procedures never drain all blood cells from the marrow. Yet once a carcass is drained, then any of the tissue may be eaten, including the marrow.

  Of course, marrow used in human marrow transplants is from live donors, and the withdrawn marrow may have some blood with it. Hence, the Christian would have to resolve for himself whether—to him—the bone-marrow graft would amount to simple flesh or would be unbled tissue. Additionally, since a marrow graft is a form of transplant, the Scriptural aspects of human organ transplants should be considered. See “Questions From Readers” in our issue of March 15, 1980. Finally, writing in Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine (Update I, 1981, page 138), Dr. D. E. Thomas observes that “virtually all marrow transplant recipients will require platelet transfusions” and many are given “packed red blood cells.” So the Christian should consider what additional issues he would have to face if he submitted to a marrow transplant.—Proverbs 22:3.

  Though a personal decision has to be made on this matter, the Bible’s comments about blood and marrow should help the individual to decide.
• 

  teenyuck

  I got an e-mail from my aunt, in response to my e-mail, asking me to "go to the hospital or doctor and donate."

  I called the local chapter of the Red Cross. They are the liasons for the bone marrow program here. I spoke with the director of the program. She gave me all the facts, figures and information I needed.

  Basically, if a sibling is not a viable candidate (there is a 25% chance your sibling will be a tissue match) the oncologist and the transplant specialist are to go to the National Marrow Donor Program and look for a candidate. For a causcian, the match likelyhood is 80%.

  She told me I cannot come to the Red Cross and sign up and tell them to send my *bone marrow* to so and so. She said it is a depository and your tissue could match more than one person. Hence, they look for a candidate in the general population of donors.

  She also said it takes 3-4 months for the Red Cross to tissue type you for bone marrow. She said it costs $88.00 and I pay. She also said that being a cousin, the matching percentage is the same as the general public who sign up to donate. She said race is more critical than being a relative.

  Then she talked about private insurance and that about half of the insurance companies consider it experimental and won't cover the cost for the patient nor the cost to the donor. She said to go through private testing it is thousands of dollars in costs to the donor. She said the likely hood my insurance would cover the cost is almost zero.

  Another issue is my health. I have epilepsy and have had 2 seizures in the last year. She looked it up and said I had to be seizure free for a year for my doctor to release me to be a donor.

  The e-mail my aunt sent begged me to go to the doctor or hospital and donate. She has not called to tell me any details. I don't know if my cousin has insurance (he is 35 and last I heard, unemployed). I don't know if his brother was tested for donation.

  She sounds like she does not know the factors involved in bone marrow donation. She actually called my sister who has a brain tumor and asked her to donate. She has not called my sister in 25 years for various reasons, one of them being my sis is DFd. I cannot believe that with alll the information on the internet and an oncologist, she does not know all the facts I found out. She tried to make it sound like it is as easy as giving blood. It is not.

  I sent my aunt an e-mail yesterday telling her that due to my medical condition I could not donate.

  I have not heard back. Now I am sure I will not. I would love to talk to her and find out exactly what is going on. Between the Watchtower positions on blood/bone marrow, etc. I am surprised that she is considering this. Then again, my cousin was never baptised.

  This is one of the worst guilt trips I have ever had. I don't want my cousin to die, however, spending a few grand to find out I may or may not be a match and cannot donate anyway is very frustrating. I feel like I am now caught in the middle.

  I appreciate the info....the Red Cross filled in the blanks on the actual process and the complexities of going through this.
• 

  rocketman

  Best wishes that things turn out well tennyuck!

  Jourles, I went back to the thread you posted. Your studies into the blood issue are much appreciated.

  Undis - good post as well.