Giving the gift of life

CASEY RESSLER

Frontiersman Valley Life Editor

A stranger's life will potentially be saved, thanks to the generosity of a Valley teenager.

Caitlin Huckins, 19, signed up for the National Bone Marrow Registry last September during the Light the Night fund-raiser. While some people stay on the registry forever and don't get called, Huckins got the news she is a marrow match after just six months.

In May, she is going to Seattle to donate stem cells to a donor in need. She'll start her donation process at Providence Hospital in Anchorage before flying to Seattle. She is still amazed she got the call that she was a match, she said.

"I was hoping to get called because it can save someone's life, but I never thought it would happen that fast," Huckins said. "I was way excited when I got that call."

Huckins found out she was a potential match three months ago, after being on the registry for just three months. She then had to go to the Blood Bank of Alaska Mat-Su branch for more tests, to ensure an exact match, which she was. Now, she is planning to travel to Seattle in mid May to donate stem cells.

"They collect the same thing as they do if they go into your hip, but it is painless," Huckins said, comparing her procedure to a commonly-known procedure in which marrow is extracted through the hip during a surgical procedure.

"I have to get five days of injections to stimulate the stem cells, and then on the last day of injections, they'll hook me up to tubes and a machine and my blood will go into one tube, pass through the machine which removes white cells, and then my blood is put back into me," Huckins explained. "I'll only be in Seattle for three days, and from what I know, it is completely painless."

When asked if she was at all scared about the procedure, or if there were any fears on her part, her answer was clear and concise.

"No. Not at all," she said. "To be honest, I'm not scared about it at all. I'm excited more than anything."

Huckins, a 2004 graduate of Burchell High School, was good friends with Logan Marre, a Valley boy who passed away after complications following an umbilical stem cell transplant in October 1998.

Logan was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was nine. His mother, Kelly Marre, has organized numerous bone marrow registry drives around the Valley, and is an active proponent for the donation process.

"The chances of finding a match are pretty slim," Marre said. "It's amazing Caitlin had a match after six months.

"I'd love to donate marrow to someone, and I have never been called," Marre said. "I don't know if I've ever heard of someone getting called that quickly. I think it's great."

Huckins, who is going into nursing as a future career, said the first thing she did when she got the phone call was to contact Marre and tell her the good news.

"I was so excited. It's not a call you expect to get," Huckins said.

Huckins won't know the identity of the patient receiving, although she may in the future.

"After they do the transplant, they wait a year to see if the patient survives," Huckins explained. "If, after that year, they want to know who the donor was, my information will be released to them.

"I really hopes people get on the registry, because there is such a need," Huckins said. "Before the Light the Night walk last September, I didn't even know what the registry was. It's important to get the word out, and to get people registered."

Marre said she's proud of Huckins, and hopes she can serve as an example of how important it is to get on the registry.

"She went from not knowing about it to giving the gift of life in six months," Marre said. "Every person who signs up has the potential to save someone's life."