The support James has been getting from friends and colleagues during this period has been fantastic, and many of you have asked how you could help.
Raising awareness about the lifesaving potential of bone marrow donations is certainly one way of helping James and others in his same situation.
MSK is conducting a search of the US and international bone marrow registries for a donor for James and has come up with some promising results but the search is still for a perfect match. Anyone who feels comfortable to become a donor is encouraged to do so, and the information below will explain what is involved in this relatively simple process and how to go about it.
Getting typed
A perfect match for a bone marrow transplant happens when a certain group of 5 genes (or 10 alleles) responsible for ‘self-recognition' contain identical markers. Testing for this match requires a simple DNA test-either through a mouth swab or a blood sample.
There are two options for potential donors who want to help James. You could either get tested through the national bone marrow registry, which is constantly being updated as MSK searches for James' donor, or you could use a private service called Kashi Clinical Laboratories that will send you a kit and transmit its preliminary analysis to James' doctor directly.
In the first case, at least in the US, you would be joining a national donor bank and would be indicating a strong commitment to becoming a bone marrow donor not only for James but anyone else in need in the future. In the second case, you would only be tested to be a potential match for James and would not be joining a national registry. At the end of this article we have included some useful links and more information on both of these options.
Becoming a Donor
There are two ways of collecting bone marrow/stem cells if you are a match for a person in need. In James' case he is likely to receive a peripheral blood stem cell transplant, which is very commonly used as a cure for leukemia. It involves the donor receiving daily injections over five days of a drug that stimulates the release of bone marrow stem cells into the bloodstream. These blood-forming cells are extracted from the donor's blood in a process similar to a regular (though longer) platelet donation. In this process, the side effects could include mild muscle aches from the injections, which disappear shortly after the donation is complete.
Another less frequently used process to extract bone marrow is a simple procedure involving anesthesia, in which doctor withdraws marrow from the back of a donor's pelvic bone. Donors can expect to feel some soreness in their lower back but are back to their normal routine in a few days.
Timeframe
If you make the decision to get tested, in order to be useful to James, the sooner you get started, the better. It will take some time to get tested, get the results, and do further testing, so we encourage fast action.
Below is some information (and web links) about how to get tested.
We thank you all for your consideration and your thoughts and support. Feel free to call or email if you have any questions. We also encourage you to forward this information to your friends and family. There are expenses involved in getting tested. The Politi family is happy to help if need be. Send an email to and your request will be forwarded to the family.
Thank you from the Politi family and Stephanie Kirchgaessner.
1) Kashi Clinical Laboratories (www.bonemarrowtest.com )
This is the private process. You can request a kit for $175 that will be sent to you. When filling out the registration form, you must note James's name (James Politi) and the name, contact information and address of his doctor:
Dr. Joseph Jurcic
1275 York Avenue, Box 458
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
New York, NY 10065
Tel: 212-639-2955
Fax: 212-772-8441
2) The National Bone Marrow Registry www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/Join_Now/join_now.html
You can join the registry online for $52 by ordering a simple kit that will be sent to you. If you go this route and want to know if you are a match for James, please request your donor ID number and provide it to us. We can contact the people conducting the search here at MSK so that they can make sure that the donor registry has been searched since your entry was added to it.
Alternatively, you can go to a National Marrow Donor Program office and be tested. In NY it costs $65.
The office in Manhattan is located here:
33 East 33rd Street
Suite 501
New York, NY 10016
(212) 209-6700
(866) 340-3567
The office in DC is located here:
400 Seventh Street, Northwest
Suite 206
(202) 638-0738
(888) 814-8610
You can also check these websites for any marrow donor drives that may be happening near where you live: www.marrow.org/HELP/Join_the_Donor_Registry/Join_in_Person/index.html or dkmsamericas.org/ . At these drives you may be able to join the registry at no cost to you.
If you live outside of the US you can still help because the search for a donor for James is international! Most countries have bone marrow donor registries. If you would like to join a marrow donor registry but don't live in the United States, you can always join the national registry in your country. The web address of the UK donor registry is www.blood.co.uk/pages/marrow_info_questions.html . Alternatively, you can contact the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust (+44-207-284-1234), a private registry located in the UK: www.anthonynolan.org.uk/ .
The website of the Italian marrow donor registry is www.ibmdr.galliera.it/main.html and the website for the Italian National Marrow Donor Association is www.admo.it/ .
3) Umbilical cord blood can sometimes also be used as a source of blood-forming cells for transplants. If you are expecting a child and are interested in donating the umbilical cord blood to a public bank you can find more information here www.marrow.org/HELP/Donate_Cord_Blood_Share_Life/index.html.
Alternatively, you can have the cord blood collected and stored privately through companies such as Viacord (www.viacord.com/ ) and CBR (www.cordblood.com/ ).
