Chicago mom of 4 donates bone marrow to 7-year-old boy she doesn’t know. ‘You just want to protect them.’
It all started at Lollapalooza.
Arriving at the music festival last year, Karen Leone, 55, saw people at a booth, waving. She walked over and found out they were from DKMS, a nonprofit that aims to match cancer patients with stem cell donors.
Leone didn’t know much about stem cell donation but agreed to a cheek swab.
Stem cell transplants can help people who have blood cancer and other diseases such as sickle cell. Stem cells can be used to regenerate and repair diseased or damaged tissues. In most cases, blood stem cells are collected from the bloodstream; in about one-fourth of cases, they are collected from bone marrow, typically from the back of the hip bone.
Months passed and the pandemic began. And then Leone, a lawyer and co-founder of a tech startup, received a call that she was a match for a 7-year-old boy who has Hodgkin lymphoma. She was asked if she was still willing to be a donor.
“I said, absolutely,” she said.
Some of her friends and family had concerns. Her family is still reeling from three deaths: Leone’s mother from Alzheimer’s, her father from cancer and her brother from a heart attack. Leone was now willing to go into a hospital at a time when people were trying to avoid elevating their exposure to COVID-19.
“You start to feel like there’s this temptation of fate,” she said. “Once your allusion of permanence is shattered, you feel like anything could happen.”
But it was exactly this that made her want to go through with it. After planning so many funerals, going to the hospital to give bone marrow that would help a young boy and his family seemed the right thing to do.
Losing time with her own relatives made her adamant about the ability to help give more time to someone else.
In June, she underwent physical tests and surgery to extract the bone marrow. She felt mostly OK — like she had fallen on ice and “got out of laundry for a few days.” She knows she can’t speak for all donors, but for her, it was a fairly swift recovery.
She thought of the child’s family. She remembered her four children at age 7.
“I remember how little they were,” she said. “You just want to protect them.”
She doesn’t know anything more about the boy, and DMKS can’t release more information because of privacy laws. His family can reach out to her, but Leone says she’s not expecting any communication because she is sure they have plenty going on with him undergoing treatment.
But she isn’t seeking gratitude. In fact, she feels she has been given a gift. The thought that perhaps she is able to help is a bright spot in a tough year.
According to DKMS, more than 170,000 Americans are diagnosed each year with a blood cancer; it’s the second most common cause of death among all types of cancer. Only 30% of patients find a donor within their family.
People can register on the organization’s website to become a donor, which includes an eligibility and health screening, and a cheek swab. The need for African American donors is especially urgent, according to the group. Sickle cell is most common among African Americans.
Leone recently saw her daughter give birth. Lately, she feels she has seen much of the life cycle. The pandemic has been a reminder for her to focus on the present and not the past or an uncertain future.
“We needed some happy endings,” she said. “Hopefully this is one.”
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