Marrow match is best hope for local teen

WASILLA -- Kara MacIver is hoping the marrow registry drive component of the Sept. 10 Light the Night Walk will lead to a match -- if not for her, for someone else who needs it.

Kara , 17, was recently diagnosed with CML, or chronic myeloid leukemia. The disease generally strikes older adults and is considered rare, with about 6,000 cases diagnosed every year.

MacIver said the disease wasn't present six months ago. She had recently delivered a son through Caesarean section, and blood tests from her hospital stay were normal.

"I still don't feel sick," MacIver said. "I never felt sick."

MacIver said she went in for a checkup recently and, when her blood test came back, it showed her white platelet count was very high -- about four million platelets, when even people with the disease commonly register platelet levels of one to two million.

She was referred to Children's Hospital in Seattle for treatment. That was several weeks ago, and since that time, MacIver said much of her family, her boyfriend's family and many friends have been tested for a potential bone- marrow match. Her sister, she said, was a five-sixths match -- matching five out of six antigens, a match that's close to perfect -- but a perfect match is still being sought.

"We've got a few possibilities, they're still checking," MacIver said.

A perfect match is preferable, she said, because the potential success of the treatment is much higher. And what would a marrow match mean for MacIver?

"If it takes, I'll be cured," MacIver said.

Contact Rindi White at rindi.white@frontiersman.com.