Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Cancer experiences bring classmates together
The two joined forces to search for potential bone marrow donors.
Photo courtesy of Paula Downs
Amanda Petruzzi (left) and Emily Jones Casey became friends after connecting through shared experiences with cancer.
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E-mail your story to us at news@sosalem.com.
How to help:
Here’s how to become a donor: Anyone between the ages of 18 and 60 who meets health guidelines is eligible to donate. The average cost of tissue typing is $52, which is tax-deductible. Sponsors sometimes cover all or part of the cost. Call (800) MARROW2 — (800) 627-7692 — for general information or visit www.marrow.org. You can also make donations directly to Casey’s and Petruzzi’s efforts at www.mission4 marrow.sysroot.net.What's your story?
Do you know a great friend? Have you watched a great friendship? E-mail your story to us.Emily Jones Casey and Amanda Petruzzi might normally be recovering from a late night of Mac and Bob's and catching up with old friends on the Saturday morning of Roanoke College's recent Alumni Weekend. Instead, they added 36 people to the National Marrow Donor Registry.
"It's so easy to get yourself on the list, you just never know. ... You can always save a life," Casey said. Although she has found two exact matches through the registry, "those people got on the list somehow," she said, and the event had already been organized.
She started feeling symptoms of fatigue, fever and bruising that came and went beginning in September of last year. Casey just underwent her fifth round of chemotherapy for acute lymphobastic leukemia cancer of the white blood cells. "I tend to self-medicate ... and finally my parents had to tell me to go to the doctor," said Casey, 23, who ran cross country and track at Roanoke College and had a young, "I'm invincible" attitude.
After her diagnosis, she told friends through Facebook, and the word got around to her classmate, Petruzzi. A cancer survivor, Petruzzi was diagnosed with a bone carcinoma in her leg at 18. The two shared some classes but hadn't really been friends until they started talking about their cancers.
While "swapping war stories," Casey mentioned in January that her doctor was recommending a bone marrow transplant. Even though Casey has a brother, he wasn't a match, which isn't uncommon.
Petruzzi went to the National Marrow Donor site, at www.marrow.org, to see if she was a match: "I got to the second line and it said if you'd had cancer you couldn't donate."
Looking for other ways to help, Petruzzi helped Casey start a Web site, www.mission4marrow.sysroot.net, a Facebook group "Mission4Marrow," and slated a marrow donor registration for Alumni Weekend.
Before the event at Roanoke College, Casey had found two exact matches through the registry. The event went forward, since it had already been organized and might provide a match for someone else.
