Airman's selfless act gives another a second chance at life

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Preston Webb
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  Earlier this year, a 57-year-old woman in Washington, D.C., faced her own mortality. Stricken with illness, her only chance of survival was a bone marrow donation. After being tested, she was told her closest match wasn't that close at all -- he lived more than 2,500 miles away in Suffolk, England.

After receiving an email on behalf of the donor database, Master Sgt. Shane Powell, 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron fuels operations section chief, flew from England to Washington, D.C., in September to donate bone marrow and save the life of a woman he'd never met.

While stationed at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Powell joined the bone marrow database more than six years ago after hearing about a 6-year-old girl who needed a donation to survive.

Little did he know that his actions then would enable him to help someone else in the future.

Donating bone marrow is a surgical procedure, and nothing like giving blood. Both the donor and the patient are given anesthesia; usually they're unconscious but sometimes only local anesthesia is used. Powell was unconscious for his. Afterward, most marrow donors experience side effects such as headaches, muscle pain, fatigue and bruising at the incision site.

The surgeons extracted bone marrow from both sides of Powell's pelvis. Pain from the extraction points, on either side of his spine, made it very difficult to walk after the surgery, Powell said.

Viewed as a father figure by some of his younger Airmen, his shop admires him for treating everyone as if they're family and his dedication to helping people in need.

"He probably donated just to do it," Senior Airman Jorge Martinez, 100th LRS fuels training journeyman, said. "He saw the opportunity to help someone and took it."

Roughly a month later, Powell said he's pain free and fully recovered from the procedure.

"If you have the opportunity to help someone you may as well grab it," Powell, from New Martinsville, W.Va., said. "You never know what that person may go on to accomplish."