100th CS spouse donates bone marrow, blood stem cells

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  A chance visit to The Exchange here resulted in a 100th Communications Squadron spouse recently donating bone marrow and blood stem cells.

In May 2012, Tammy Bender noticed a booth where attendants took cheek swabs, searching for a bone marrow match for a patient at RAF Lakenheath. She decided to have a swab taken, and though not a match for that patient, ended up being a match for someone else.

Not just a match, but a 100-percent match.

All cheek swab results are placed on a registry with C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program - an organization whose recipients are purely active duty, dependants and retirees.

Bender found out in November that she had been found as a match to someone, and by mid-February was on her way to Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

"It was shocking (when they told me), but also really cool; I honestly didn't think I was going to be a match," said Bender from Montgomery, Ill. "When I was called, I just thought, 'Oh my, what am I going to do?' They told me it was completely voluntary, I did not have to do it, and I could stop at any time - but I couldn't do that."

After the initial cheek swab, Bender underwent several blood tests before she gained approval to donate.

"There were a lot of (blood sample) tubes!" she said.

Next came the physical examination including a chest X-ray and electrocardiogram, which medical technicians from RAF Lakenheath handled. Assigned a counselor, Bender now had a contact if she had any questions or concerns before or after the procedure.

Less than two weeks after her results all came back normal, she left for Washington, D.C. At the time of the procedure, Bender's husband was on a TDY so her friend, Amanda Stahl, accompanied her for support.

At the hospital, Bender's blood pressure and temperature were checked before being given an injection at the back of both her arms.

"It burned really bad," she said. "Just the thought of it makes me tingle still."

This happened at 9 a.m., every day from Feb. 15 to 18.

"The first day it burned but it wasn't really that bad; the second day it burned really bad, and I ended up getting a headache from the side effects," Bender said.

She was fine on the third day after taking aspirin.

"The shots burned every time. Though I couldn't even feel the actual shot from the nurses, once they started pushing the medicine; it was pretty bad."

On the fourth day, the 100th CS spouse said her body really started aching and her knee hurt really badly.

"I felt like a bus ran me over," she said. "The fifth day was donation day. I got the shot again in the morning - it still burned - then they hooked up my arm with a saline IV."

After then heading upstairs in the hospital to where the donation was going to be done, Bender said she ended up on the receiving end of a huge needle in her right arm.

"My patient just needed the blood stem cells," she said, explaining why the needles were put just in her arms, rather than the bottom of her spine or hips, as done in some cases.

She was then hooked up to a machine which separates the plasma and bone marrow, then returns blood back to your left arm.

"I was on the machine for five hours, and couldn't move my right arm at all," she said. "They gave me a stress ball to squeeze if I felt like I was going to move my arm - other than that you had to just stay there.

"I remember thinking, 'I can't wait until this needle gets out,' but once it got out, I felt like I couldn't move my arm."

During the process, Bender kept getting a tingling sensation throughout her entire body similar to "pins and needles." The nurses gave her calcium to counteract it, and a narcotic for her headache, though she said that didn't help much.

"The pain didn't come until after," she said. "After we were all done and I left (the hospital), I threw up a couple of times and my head was hurting really bad. Amanda was a really big help - she massaged my neck for me, made sure I took my medicines, got my ice for my neck and kept me hydrated. Once we got back to the hotel, I pretty much slept for the rest of the day."

Though still feeling the after-effects of the procedure - she said she's tired, her knee still hurts and she still doesn't have much of an appetite - Bender doesn't regret giving the donation.

"I would totally do this again," she said. "I'm going to be in pain for maybe a week, but this could put 20, 30 maybe 40 more years on someone's life - I could handle pain for a week."