Gift of life starts with small blood sample

  • Published
  • By Karen Abeyasekere
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
As soon as she saw the stuffed toy moose sent as a thoughtful gift with the bone marrow for her daughter, Elaina, Darlene Ladner knew her very sick child would be OK.

“When I saw the moose, I cried,” said Mrs. Ladner. “My nickname in high school was ‘Moose’ -- almost everything I owned had ‘Moose’ written on it. Even today, it’s still my nickname, but there was no way the donor could have known that.”

In early 1995, Elaine Ladner was 15 years old and suffered from Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She’d been diagnosed in May 1995 and had chemotherapy until that September. Her family then heard she was in remission, and immediately started looking for a suitable bone marrow donor.

Thankfully, someone came along who was able to give her the ultimate gift -- bone marrow, wrapped in a bow of years longer to live.

That person was Tech. Sgt. Cindy Dorfner from the 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs Office.

Giving her first blood sample donation back in 1993, then-Airman 1st Class Dorfner said she joined the Air Force determined she would join the bone marrow registery to try and help someone.

“When I was in high school, there was a guy at my rival school who had leukemia. There was a big push for people to get registered during a bone marrow drive, but it was fairly expensive and I couldn’t afford it at the time. It was about $70 and I didn’t have the money as a senior in high school.

“When I joined the Air Force and got to my first base, (Mountain Home Air Force Base,) Idaho , there was a drive going on so I knew I would register. They took four small tubes (approximately two tablespoons in each) of blood,” she said.

About a year-and-a-half later, Sergeant Dorfner received a letter saying she was a preliminary match for a boy. But because she hadn’t updated her address, the letter took a long time to get to her. When she got in touch with somebody on the registry, it was too late.

“I was devastated. I thought I’d never get called again, but about six months later, (in January, 1995) when I was at Langley Air Force Base, I got a second letter (her details had been updated by then) saying I was a preliminary match for a 15-year-old girl who was suffering from AML.”

The Vincennes , Ind. , native then had to undergo further testing. The C.W. Bill Young/Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program sent test tubes to the Langley AFB hospital for more samples of her blood.

She remembered the hospital drew 14 vials of blood -- twice, about a month apart -- which was sent off to be tested at Bethesda Medical Center , Maryland.

They first told Dorfner she was a perfect match some time in about September 1995. Then they then told the recipients family.”

Sergeant Dorfner then had to undergo rigorous medical tests to ensure she was healthy enough to donate the marrow.

With Sergeant Dorfner healthy enough to endure the procedure, the young leukemia patient had to undergo a seven-day course of lethal doses of chemotherapy and radiation to kill off all her bone marrow cells. It completely killed her marrow as well as her ability to reproduce bone marrow.

At that time, if Sergeant Dorfner hadn’t been able to give bone marrow, the girl would have died.

Once the date was arranged, Nov. 9, 1995, a day both women will remember for the rest of their lives -- Sergeant Dorfner’s procedure was carried out.

The doctors took bone marrow from the pelvic bone, where the marrow is most plentiful. An instrument, almost like a corkscrew, was inserted into her lower back, and a long, thin needle was inserted to withdraw the marrow. She had to undergo the “corkscrew” six times.

“They flew my marrow to Elaina, who was in Wisconsin , where the operation was being performed the next day. The bone marrow is given via an IV, the same way they’d give you blood. Apparently, she did really well, and beat the record of getting out of the hospital by around 13 days,” recalled Sergeant Dorfner.

Once someone has received bone marrow, they are monitored for a year. Once they’ve made it through the first year, the patient is considered to be doing well. After five years, the patient is usually considered cured, she explained.

Elaina made an amazing recovery, according to her mother. She was in hospital for two months, but started producing her own bone marrow cells 12 days after receiving her donor’s marrow. The doctors told the family it was unreal.

Both donor and recipient had a liaison officer at the registry so they could correspond. Rules state neither is allowed to know any identifying details about the other for the first year, but both can send letters to each other via their liaison officer (who will take out any personal details).

Once the year was up, Sergeant Dorfner called her liaison, who knew she was desperate to get in touch with her bone marrow recipient.

The family obviously felt the same, because they allowed their details to be given, and Sergeant Dorfner called the Ladners as soon as she could.

“I called their house about 15 times but couldn’t get hold of them,” she recalled. “Finally, they answered the phone and I told them who I was -- they started crying, and so did I. They had so many questions for me.”

Mrs. Ladner said they’d all wanted to know who the donor was the minute her daughter received the bone marrow.

“It was wonderful knowing someone out there had given life to our daughter,” she said.

The bone marrow registry had initially found 45 possible donors and picked five to start with.

“The donor we ended up getting the marrow from -- Cindy -- was the very first one of the five. She turned out to be a perfect match. It was wonderful, because it’s so rare to find a donor that fast,” she said, emotionally.

Since the year of anonymity ended, Sergeant Dorfner and the Ladner family have visited several times and call each other regularly.

“The first time I went to meet them, I drove from South Carolina to their home in Vancleave, Miss. They knew I was visting, but didn’t know when, so my first stop was Elaina’s high school, because I wanted to surprise her.

“The teachers called Elaina to the office and she thought she was in trouble. But as soon as she saw me, she knew exactly who I was (the two had seen photos of each other by then) and we hugged and cried for ages,” she said, with emotion in her voice as she remembered the day vividly.

After that, the pair went to a football game to see Elaina’s brother play, met her family, and went to the mall and had photos taken together.

“I felt so much a part of their family,” said Dorfner.

The Ladner family lives approximately 30 minutes from Biloxi , which was drastically affected by Hurricane Katrina recently.

Sergeant Dorfner said she tried calling their house several times to check they were OK, but couldn’t get a hold of them.

“I was starting to get worried, so I tracked down the number of a gas station in their home town. Luckily, the attendant knew exactly who I was talking about, as it was a small town, and told me Elaina and her dad had been in the day before. I was so relieved to know they were OK, and eventually got to speak to them a couple of days later.”

Elaina is now 25 and pretty healthy, according to Dorfner.

“Just through life, you get down sometimes. Whenever I feel down, I think of the one thing I did which is my proudest achievement -- giving those tubes of blood which ultimately saved the life of a little girl.”

That sentiment is echoed by Elaina’s family.

“When Cindy sent the moose with her bone marrow, she also sent a music box which played, ‘That’s What Friends Are For,’” said Mrs. Ladner.

“I thank God he sent her to us -- she saved my ‘baby’s’ life,” she said.