Leukemia victim Allison Atlas’ eight-month search for a compatible bone marrow donor, a national campaign that has tested nearly 50,000 individuals, has proven unsuccessful, and so she is down to her last hope — her mother, who is only a partially compatible donor.
Mother and daughter Atlas are currently in Seattle waiting to be admitted to the Fred Hutchinson Bone Marrow Transplant Center, where they will undergo a procedure in which Allison’s cancerous cells will be removed and replaced by her mother’s healthy bone marrow.
“We couldn’t wait any longer,” said Simon Atlas, Allison’s first cousin, who is helping to coordinate the Friends of Allison campaign to find compatible marrow donors. “Allison has gotten weaker, but she’s still strong enough to withstand the treatment.”
The 21-year-old New York University student from Bethesda, Md., captured the heart of the American Jewish community last fall when her attempts to find a compatible donor within her immediate family failed and she was forced to bring her search public.
“I was given three to six months to find a donor,” said Allison in February, then in her sixth month. “I know time is running out.”
She was told by experts to focus her search within her own ethnic group, Jews of Eastern European origin, who were thought to have a better likelihood of sharing her bone marrow composition.
Since November, the Atlas family has set up a sophisticated campaign that has tested approximately 50,000 volunteers throughout the United States and Israel.
JOINT COMMUNAL EFFORT
Jewish organizations including synagogues, UJA Federations, B’nai B’rith lodges, Hadassah chapters and Jewish community centers have joined the effort.
The unprecedented campaign has added thousands of new names to the National Bone Marrow Registry and found potential donors for 15 other leukemia victims.
“I guess the nicest thing is that people don’t have to look at me and feel sorry. They can do something. And if they can’t help me specifically, well, maybe they will end up helping someone else,” said Atlas.
Funding permitting, the Atlas family has decided to continue its blood-testing campaign, whether Allison’s transplant is successful or not. “Assuming that funds are available, we will continue to try to test people for the National Marrow Registry,” said Simon Atlas.
Meanwhile, an additional 2,000 blood samples taken at Friends of Allison drives last week in Raleigh, N.C., Miami, Fla. and Brighton Beach, N.Y. are being hastily tested in case a perfect marrow sample can be found.
Bone marrow transplants require compatibility for six different antigens. The odds are said to be one in 20,000 of finding an individual compatible on all of the six counts.
“It’s a big lottery and everybody knows it,” said Simon Atlas. “It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Allison’s mother has tested compatible for only four out of the six antigens, but as time runs out, the family has decided to take their chances.
The treatment involves eight to 10 days of doses of chemotherapy and radiation therapy to kill the diseased marrow, followed by the intravenous transmission of healthy bone marrow.
The operation is extremely risky as there is always the possibility of infection and there is no guarantee that the bone marrow will be accepted by the body.
The results of the procedure will not be known for at least two weeks, when a white blood cell count can be taken.
But Allison is optimistic, as she has been throughout the last eight months, that the operation will be successful.
“Her attitude is absolutely super. She’s convinced its going to work and that she’ll be able to get through it,” said Simon Atlas.
“If the will to live means anything, she’s got it. She’s got what it takes to lick this thing,” he said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
