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Team Robin Roberts and Bone Marrow Donation

251 views · Published 20 February 2013 · 3:16 · Indexed 23 September 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2013 · News & Politics

by: Beth Neuhoff Robin Roberts triumphant return to the anchor desk on Good Morning America will take place Wednesday (Feb. 20). This comes after she spent months recovering from a bone marrow transplant.A Chattanooga man received his life saving gift and a UTC student enthusiastically gives to another. Now they're hoping to spread the word about the benefits of bone marrow donationJames Morrison is still recovering from acute lymphomic leukemia after he was diagnosed three years ago.The diagnosis was pretty devastating in that without a transplant, there was no chance of survival, said Morrison.After three rounds of chemotherapy, www.BeTheMatch.org, the national bone marrow registry, found 3,200 potential donors. The group then narrowed that down to four or five. Finally they chose a young man from Germany who was 23 years old, Morrison said.The young man graciously gave his marrow twice after virus medication destroyed much of the original transplant. James says he's getting better with each day but it's still hard and adds,The whole process leaves you extremely weak but I feel my strength getting returned. A lot of times I don't know if it's the disease or just age. He hopes to meet his donor but that is a process that usually takes two years.For donor Kimberly Washington, a community project for school turned into the experience of a lifetime. After going through the whole process it really gave me a better appreciation for the gift of life and the gift of health so that's something I don't take for granted now and I have an even bigger passion for helping people especially cancer patients, says Kimberly. She goes on to say, There are misconceptions about donating. For one thing, it's not painful! Just fill out some paperwork - swab your mouth - you're done. From start to finish, including a physical and paperwork, it takes about two to three weeks.Carla Lewis is the Marrow Donor Representative at Blood Assurance. She says, Ten thousand patients a year need a transplant. Last year we did a little over five thousand so, five thousand went without a match. There are ten million people on the national registry- only seven percent of those are African American so Robin Roberts is very very lucky for her sister to be an exact match for her.Blood Assurance urges people from all walks of life to get on the national bone marrow registry. Kimberly Washington advocates, You'll be helping somebody and also helping yourself because it truly is a life changing experience.Anyone that wants to be on the national bone marrow registry, it's easy and painless. You must be between eighteen and forty four years old to donate marrow or stem cells.You can drop by any Blood Assurance or go to www.BeTheMatch.org. Matches are based on ethnicity or DNA and ALL ethnicity's are needed.

Team Robin Roberts and Bone Marrow Donation

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