Be the Match: SNS Planner Donates Bone Marrow to Save a Child's Life   
 
Gerald Gifford, Strategic National Stockpile Planner for Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments donated bone marrow that helped save a young child's life.
Seven years ago after donating blood, Gerald Gifford, Strategic National Stockpile Planner for Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments,  signed up to be a bone marrow donor by sending in a cheek swab to the National Marrow Donor Program. As the years passed, he didn't give the process much thought... At least not until November 11, 2011 when his phone rang, "We think you're a bone marrow match for a one year old child.  Are you still available?"  Gifford's emotions ran the gamut from "How painful is this going to be?" to "Let's do this!"

With his "yes", began a series of blood tests to see how closely his genetics matched the child's medical profile. As the match was confirmed, the level of testing became more complex, culminating with a full-day, and complete physical at Emory's Winship Cancer Institute.
 
While Gifford was being checked, the recipient's doctors were working on getting the child strong enough to go through the procedure.  After being delayed once, the procedure took place on February 13, 2012.
 
The bone marrow harvest was completed in the hospital under general anesthesia and involved a series of holes drilled into Gifford's pelvis to extract the bone marrow. He was at home that same afternoon and over-the-counter pain relievers were enough to manage the pain.
  
Gifford was back to work the next week, after taking advantage of the state employment policy allowing seven consecutive days off for marrow donations.
  
Donors are needed desperately.  Only half of the 10,000 people in the United States who need a marrow transplant each year are able to receive it.  If you are in good health, between 18 and 60, joining the National Marrow Donor Program's "Be The Match" is as easy as going to the website (http://marrow.org/Join/Join_Now/Join_Now.aspx), answering a few basic questions and requesting a swab kit.
   
Gifford says the experience was definitely well worth it. "I felt honored to be the one-in-a-million match." He hopes the child grows up to have a wonderful life; a life that had very little chance without the willing intervention of a stranger.
 
-Story by Karen Shields, Communications Manager/Public Information Officer, Gwinnett, Newton, and Rockdale County Health Departments, District 3-4   

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