Rock River Valley Blood Center helps man donate stem cells
By Mike DeDoncker
I wanted to share the below article as it speaks of the wonderful life that my business partner Bob Hudetz may have saved through the act of being a bone marrow donor. He's extremely proud to have been a match for a person in need and I hope you share in the great news that his selfless act may have just saved someones life :)
Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading our blog as usual!
HEALTHYROCKFORD.COM
Posted Nov 28, 2010 @ 09:19 PM
ROCKFORD — Somewhere, an anonymous patient was waiting Tuesday for Bob Hudetz’s appointment at the Rock River Valley Blood Center to be over.
That’s because when Hudetz was finished with the four-hour procedure to extract stem cells from his blood, a courier would immediately fly them to the 64-year-old woman who would receive a transplant to treat her acute myelogenic leukemia.
“It’s cutting-edge stuff, and, of course, it doesn’t happen here every day,” said Jennifer Bowman, the blood center’s public relations and marketing manager.
Hudetz, owner of Advantage Realty Group in Naperville, became a part of a national marrow donor registry two years ago when a Neuqua Valley High School student needed a bone-marrow transplant and he joined a drive to find a match for the student.Hudetz wasn’t a match for the student, but in July, the blood center’s marrow donation coordinator, Julie Tilbury, contacted Hudetz to tell him he was one of 10 potential donors for the woman fighting leukemia.
“Apparently, they need the perfect match to have this person to be able to accept my stem cells,” Hudetz said, “and, then, earlier this month Julie called to say I was the perfect match, that there was an urgent need and could we get this done.”
In the procedure, the stem cells are extracted from the white cells of the donor’s peripheral blood.“It’s the most common way that we do marrow transplants,” Bowman said. “Most of them are from an adult donor.”
Holly Lindquist, the blood center’s automated collection coordinator, said blood is drawn from one of the donor’s arms and the blood passes through a machine that separates the cells with a centrifuge. The machine saves the white blood cells, and the red cells and plasma are returned to the donor into the other arm.
“When somebody said ‘bone marrow transplant,’” said Hudetz, who sat comfortably with both arms covered by small blankets, “I used to think that’s painful. It’s as easy as giving blood.”
He also said the test he took to become part of the national donor registry was a simple, painless swab of the inside of his mouth.“Of the people who need these transplants, of those who get it, it’s like an 80 percent success rate,” Hudetz said. “People should get in the registry because, if you’re the match, you can save somebody’s life.”
Staff writer Mike DeDoncker can be reached at 815-987-1382 or mdedoncker@rrstar.com.
Copyright 2010 Rockford Register Star. Some rights reserved
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