Sacrificing lives to save lives
"Give someone back his life - for this you can suffer pain"
In the United States, a 44-year-old donor, Derrick Nelson, fell into a coma during a bone marrow donation procedure. This is an extremely rare case for world medical practice. That is why he has attracted the attention of doctors and journalists, again raising a wave of questions about the safety of potential donors.
According to research conducted by the World Association of Bone Marrow Donors (WMDA), the risks of the procedure for donors are minimal and usually manifest themselves in the form of low back pain, bone aches, weakness and dizziness that last for several days. However, the case of 44-year-old American Derrick Nelson may force to adjust safety standards for donors during the procedure.
Apnea and other circumstances
A former military man named Derrick Nelson was the director of a college in Westfield, New Jersey. A long time ago, back in 1996, he donated a blood sample during a donation campaign. But the coincidence happened only 22 years later. In the fall of 2018, Nelson was contacted by the American donor Be the Match and asked if an expanded analysis could be done: it seems that Derrick’s phenotype coincided with the phenotype of a 14-year-old boy from France who needs a bone marrow transplant. The analysis showed a complete match.
Nelson immediately agreed to become a donor. However, the preliminary medical examination revealed details that greatly complicated the donation procedure. In February 2019, the student publication Hi’s Eye published a note "Dr. Nelson donates stem cells to save lives", which explains in detail the essence of the problem.
Derrick Nelson became a potential bone marrow donor in 1996 when he served in the military, but the coincidence is only now, 22 years later
. But this turned out to be impossible: Derrick suffered from apnea (a syndrome of spontaneous sleep apnea), which manifested itself in his service in the army.
It is dangerous for patients with apnea to do general anesthesia, so doctors decided to use an alternative method - apheresis. Nelson himself explained the process to Hi’s Eye: "Blood from one hand is sent to a centrifuge, where stem cells are sifted, and then the blood is returned back to the other hand."
However, at the final stage of the examination it was found that Nelson has signs of sickle cell anemia - a genetic disease in which the body produces abnormal hemoglobin, due to which red blood cells can not properly supply organs and tissues with oxygen. As doctors explained to Nelson, this disease makes it impossible to collect stem cells from peripheral blood by apheresis. However, specifically in this situation, when Nelson had a complete coincidence with a 14-year-old recipient in need of a transplant,
As a result, it was decided to take stem cells from the bone marrow, but to perform the procedure not under general but under local anesthesia to monitor the patient’s breathing and condition.
Before the donation, Nelson told Hi’s Eye: "Bringing back someone’s life is something that can hurt you." These were his last words. After the procedure, Derrick suddenly fell into a coma, which lasted several weeks. All these days his relatives were inseparably in his ward. On Sunday, April 7, Derrick died.
Kindness and sensitivity
The first to announce his death was the head of the school district in Westfield, Dr. Margaret Dolan. "Derrick impressed us all with his decency, kindness, sensitivity and infinitely positive attitude," she said. Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindley wrote on her Facebook page about "a huge loss for the local community." After that, a real wave of sympathy rose in the network and local media. At the same time, many emphasized Nelson’s devotion and admired his actions.
Salim Shivaad, a friend of Nelson, a musician from Atlanta, Georgia, called Derrick’s death heroic. "He died trying to save the life of a child - a complete stranger, from another country," Shivaad wrote on Twitter.
Students from Westfield College, where he was principal, lit candles in memory of Nelson.
New Jersey Sen. Tom Keane has called for unity in prayer and prayer with the family of the deceased, adding that Westfield has lost a true and selfless leader in the person of Nelson. And Gov. Phil Murphy said Nelson said all the best in New Jersey.
Westfield activists have begun collecting signatures for the renaming of the college in honor of Derrick Nelson on the Change.org platform. Nelson’s pupils admire his courage and determination. "I always knew he was a great man," 16-year-old Marcela Evans told NJ.com. - When I found out before the operation that he was ill, I was very upset because he was helping someone. But the fact that he made this decision even with illness, commands my infinite respect. " Dr. Ethel Hesti, an English teacher at Westfield College, wrote in a commentary on Hi’s Eye about Nelson: "It is extremely rare to find people who are willing to take a selfless risk for the sake of a complete stranger."
Nelson’s fiancée Sharonda Breaker published a statement for local media. "His generous and kind deed, the last in his life, speaks best of what kind of person he was and how we will remember him," she wrote.
Risks are minimal
Among the comments under the posts of New Jersey officials were not only sympathy - there were also remarks about the risks of the bone marrow donation procedure. However, official comments from doctors about the causes of Nelson’s death and her connection to the procedure have not yet followed.
The risks to bone marrow donors are usually assessed as extremely low. A Washington Post article on Nelson’s death cites statistics from the US National Bone Marrow Donor Program: only 2.4% of donors may experience complications from anesthesia or damage to bones, muscles or nerves.
Derrick Nelson in uniform
In 2008, the medical journal Haematologica published a large-scale study by a group of scientists led by Swiss hematologist Jörg Halter. It examined the results of more than 50,000 related donations since 1993. Five donor deaths were identified in 51,024 procedures, two of which were over 50 years of age and one of which was due to a medical error. With regard to fatalities among unrelated donors, according to the WMDA, before Nelson this case was only one of 250 thousand donations (since 1988). In general, this number is so small that it will be impossible to make statistically significant generalizations in this sample. Of course, no operation can be considered completely safe. However, it is obvious that in the case of bone marrow donation the risk of complications is minimal.
AuthorMykola Voronov, correspondent of the Krov5 project
Photo: Facebook.com, Youtube.com
Read also: 10 rules of life written by a father after the loss of his son
SUPPORT PROJECTS AND SUBSIDIARY FUNDS
In the United States, a 44-year-old donor, Derrick Nelson, fell into a coma during a bone marrow donation procedure. This is an extremely rare case for world medical practice. That is why he has attracted the attention of doctors and journalists, again raising a wave of questions about the safety of potential donors.
According to research conducted by the World Association of Bone Marrow Donors (WMDA), the risks of the procedure for donors are minimal and usually manifest themselves in the form of low back pain, bone aches, weakness and dizziness that last for several days. However, the case of 44-year-old American Derrick Nelson may force to adjust safety standards for donors during the procedure.
Apnea and other circumstances
A former military man named Derrick Nelson was the director of a college in Westfield, New Jersey. A long time ago, back in 1996, he donated a blood sample during a donation campaign. But the coincidence happened only 22 years later. In the fall of 2018, Nelson was contacted by the American donor Be the Match and asked if an expanded analysis could be done: it seems that Derrick’s phenotype coincided with the phenotype of a 14-year-old boy from France who needs a bone marrow transplant. The analysis showed a complete match.
Nelson immediately agreed to become a donor. However, the preliminary medical examination revealed details that greatly complicated the donation procedure. In February 2019, the student publication Hi’s Eye published a note "Dr. Nelson donates stem cells to save lives", which explains in detail the essence of the problem.
Derrick Nelson became a potential bone marrow donor in 1996 when he served in the military, but the coincidence is only now, 22 years later . But this turned out to be impossible: Derrick suffered from apnea (a syndrome of spontaneous sleep apnea), which manifested itself in his service in the army.
It is dangerous for patients with apnea to do general anesthesia, so doctors decided to use an alternative method - apheresis. Nelson himself explained the process to Hi’s Eye: "Blood from one hand is sent to a centrifuge, where stem cells are sifted, and then the blood is returned back to the other hand."
However, at the final stage of the examination it was found that Nelson has signs of sickle cell anemia - a genetic disease in which the body produces abnormal hemoglobin, due to which red blood cells can not properly supply organs and tissues with oxygen. As doctors explained to Nelson, this disease makes it impossible to collect stem cells from peripheral blood by apheresis. However, specifically in this situation, when Nelson had a complete coincidence with a 14-year-old recipient in need of a transplant,
As a result, it was decided to take stem cells from the bone marrow, but to perform the procedure not under general but under local anesthesia to monitor the patient’s breathing and condition.
Before the donation, Nelson told Hi’s Eye: "Bringing back someone’s life is something that can hurt you." These were his last words. After the procedure, Derrick suddenly fell into a coma, which lasted several weeks. All these days his relatives were inseparably in his ward. On Sunday, April 7, Derrick died.
Kindness and sensitivity
The first to announce his death was the head of the school district in Westfield, Dr. Margaret Dolan. "Derrick impressed us all with his decency, kindness, sensitivity and infinitely positive attitude," she said. Westfield Mayor Shelley Brindley wrote on her Facebook page about "a huge loss for the local community." After that, a real wave of sympathy rose in the network and local media. At the same time, many emphasized Nelson’s devotion and admired his actions.
Salim Shivaad, a friend of Nelson, a musician from Atlanta, Georgia, called Derrick’s death heroic. "He died trying to save the life of a child - a complete stranger, from another country," Shivaad wrote on Twitter.
Students from Westfield College, where he was principal, lit candles in memory of Nelson.New Jersey Sen. Tom Keane has called for unity in prayer and prayer with the family of the deceased, adding that Westfield has lost a true and selfless leader in the person of Nelson. And Gov. Phil Murphy said Nelson said all the best in New Jersey.
Westfield activists have begun collecting signatures for the renaming of the college in honor of Derrick Nelson on the Change.org platform. Nelson’s pupils admire his courage and determination. "I always knew he was a great man," 16-year-old Marcela Evans told NJ.com. - When I found out before the operation that he was ill, I was very upset because he was helping someone. But the fact that he made this decision even with illness, commands my infinite respect. " Dr. Ethel Hesti, an English teacher at Westfield College, wrote in a commentary on Hi’s Eye about Nelson: "It is extremely rare to find people who are willing to take a selfless risk for the sake of a complete stranger."
Nelson’s fiancée Sharonda Breaker published a statement for local media. "His generous and kind deed, the last in his life, speaks best of what kind of person he was and how we will remember him," she wrote.
Risks are minimal
Among the comments under the posts of New Jersey officials were not only sympathy - there were also remarks about the risks of the bone marrow donation procedure. However, official comments from doctors about the causes of Nelson’s death and her connection to the procedure have not yet followed.
The risks to bone marrow donors are usually assessed as extremely low. A Washington Post article on Nelson’s death cites statistics from the US National Bone Marrow Donor Program: only 2.4% of donors may experience complications from anesthesia or damage to bones, muscles or nerves.
Derrick Nelson in uniformIn 2008, the medical journal Haematologica published a large-scale study by a group of scientists led by Swiss hematologist Jörg Halter. It examined the results of more than 50,000 related donations since 1993. Five donor deaths were identified in 51,024 procedures, two of which were over 50 years of age and one of which was due to a medical error. With regard to fatalities among unrelated donors, according to the WMDA, before Nelson this case was only one of 250 thousand donations (since 1988). In general, this number is so small that it will be impossible to make statistically significant generalizations in this sample. Of course, no operation can be considered completely safe. However, it is obvious that in the case of bone marrow donation the risk of complications is minimal.
AuthorMykola Voronov, correspondent of the Krov5 project
Photo: Facebook.com, Youtube.com
Read also: 10 rules of life written by a father after the loss of his son
SUPPORT PROJECTS AND SUBSIDIARY FUNDS