Donor register: The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) needs to increase the number of potential bone marrow donors on its register by 50 per cent in order to cover the amount of people in Ireland who need transplants, according to the director of the Irish Unrelated Donor Registry.
Dr Emer Lawlor, a consultant haematologist at the IBTS, said she had 19,500 potential donors signed up, having been tissue-typed, waiting for a suitable recipient to come up.
"At present, virtually all Irish patients who need transplants will get a donor on either the Irish or international panels. But if we could get 30,000 potential donors on our register, then most of our patients could get donors from the Irish panel, which would speed things up considerably and would be likely to provide excellent matches," said Dr Lawlor. So far, around 60 Irish people have donated.
Yesterday, President Mary McAleese made a presentation to many of those donors at a special ceremony in Dublin. The event was organised as a mark of appreciation towards the donors for undertaking what can be a painful but also an extremely important public service.
"It is a way for us to thank them for their bravery and the gift they have given on behalf of the recipients of their bone marrow," said Dr Lawlor.
"Bone marrow transplant is the only known cure for some diseases and some forms of leukaemia. It is sometimes difficult to find a match for the patient's tissue type within their family so in that instance we have to look beyond that and into the unrelated register.
"For the donor, it involves a general operation where multiple holes are drilled, usually into his or her hip bone, and the bone marrow is taken out. There is a variable amount of pain. Some recover very quickly with just a little twinge. Others take longer," she said.
"The transplant does not have a 100 per cent success rate - it is more like 60-70 per cent. But even when it is not successful, at least the family knows that everything that could have been done, was done."
Leaflets about bone marrow donation are available at the IBTS offices in D'Olier Street, Dublin 2. There are around nine million donors around the world and while many of those can be used here for Irish patients, it would be much quicker if there were enough Irish donors to cater for the demand at home. And, as with many transplant matters, time is often of the essence.
In 1994, at the age of 14, Pamela Woodlock was first diagnosed with leukaemia. Doctors tried various treatments but the disease progressed and eventually it became clear that she needed a bone marrow transplant urgently. But after testing at Dublin's St James's Hospital, it was found that no one in her family was a suitable match. If she didn't get the marrow from somewhere, she would die.
That is where John McGregor came in. Mr McGregor, from Ballymun in Dublin, had been a regular blood donor and decided to put his name onto the bone marrow donor register after being told about it by a nurse at Pelican House. It turned out he was a match for Pamela and he successfully donated his bone marrow.
"I heard that a girl was going to die unless I did it so I couldn't say no, could I?" he said.
"I would do it again and I would encourage other people to do it, too. It has been immensely rewarding," he said.
John (35) subsequently met Pamela and the two became good friends. By coincidence, it turned out their fathers were childhood friends, growing up in the Dublin suburb of Cabra.
"She is like a sister to me now.When I had the operation, it was very painful. They took bone marrow from my spine. One slip and you could be paralysed. You wouldn't want to think about it too much but the doctors in St James's were brilliant, really good with me," he said. "I was in hospital for a week and I had a limp for a while but was grand after that. I look at her now, though, years later, and it is great because I know that I gave her another chance at life."
Pamela, now 26, says, "John is a very good man. He would do it again for anyone. I am so thankful.
"I want to raise awareness for this. People are scared as it is not an easy ordeal to go through but it is forever worthwhile."