Mitzvah Match
Temple Israel hosts drive in search
of bone marrow donor for member Gary Weiss.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter
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odi Mills of West Bloomfield
has given blood numerous
times without ever knowing
the effect her donation might
make on someone else's life.
"It is such a good feeling to be able to
do it when you know the need is so
strong," Mills says.
Now Mills is praying a blood test
will turn up a bone marrow match for
her father Gary Weiss of West
Bloomfield, who is suffering from
acute myelogenous leukemia.
After turning many times to their
synagogue for celebrations and good
things in their lives, the Weiss family
now has accepted Temple Israel's offer
to host a bone marrow drive for Gary.
The idea came at the suggestion of
Rabbi Marla Hornsten.
It will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 4, in conjunction with
the annual Temple Israel Brotherhood
Blood Drive at the synagogue's Youth
Group-hosted Purim carnival.
The Weisses are longtime Temple
Israel members. It is where Gary's wife
Annie has taught Judaic studies for the
last 36 years, where the Weiss's four chil-
dren became b'nai mitzvah and graduat-
ed from religious school. It is where Jodi
and Robert Mills were married in 1999.
Diagnosis And Treatment
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3/2
2001 ,
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After his leukemia was diagnosed in
October 1999, Weiss, 55, underwent a
multitude of tests and treatments.
"He began nine months of
chemotherapy while already on a ven-
tilator for breathing difficulties," Mills
says of her father who went into
remission, temporarily, in July.
In December, he began receiving
treatments again after a bone marrow
biopsy showed the recurrence of cancer.
"He started chemo on the first night
of Chanukah as an in-patient," Mills
says. "And he spent New Year's Eve in
the hospital."
Weiss has been hospitalized since
Feb. 17 when he arrived at William
Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak for
one of numerous blood transfusions
he has endured. He had a high fever
Gary Weiss in his room at Beaumont Hospital.
from an infection caused by his lowered
immune system. Since December,
Weiss has known he is a candidate for
a bone marrow transplant.
When he was first diagnosed, each -
of his children donated blood to
Beaumont to replace what had been
given to their father.
"We were also tested as possible bone
marrow donors even before the doctor
decided on a transplant," Mills says of
her siblings, Elyse, 25; Ryan, 23; and
Marc, 21. But none were matches.
Neither was Weiss's sister, Judi Shapiro
of West Bloomfield, who as a sibling
had the best chance, according to
Weiss's doctor, Dr. Ishmael Jaiyesimi, a
hematologist/oncologist at Beaumont.
"Without that [familial] match,
someone at the bone marrow drive
could be the only person to save him,"
the doctor says, encouraging partici-
pants to be there for Weiss.
Chemotherapy has not eliminated
his disease; a bone marrow transplant
offers more hope.
The family also has been unsuccess-
ful in locating a match through a
search of the National Marrow Donor
Program's registry of 4 million volun-
teer marrow and blood stem cell
donors. The Minneapolis-based non-
profit organization facilitates unrelated
donor transplants for patients around
the world with life-threatening blood
diseases who do not have matching
donors in their families.
In addition to helping to search for a
donor for her father, Mills also has
become involved with the New York-
based Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Inc., raising $10,000 walking in its
marathon in Anchorage, Alaska, last June.
Donors
Being tested to be a bone marrow
donor involves a simple blood test.
Even if no match is found for Weiss on
Sunday, information on each potential
donor will be placed on the national
registry for possible future matches.
Rick Nessel of Novi was tested as a
possible bone marrow donor for a
friend's daughter five years ago, but
was not a match for the child, who
later received a successful transplant
from another donor.
In April, 1999, he received word he
was a close match for an unnamed 17-
year-old boy from another country.
Immediately, he agreed to be the donor.
"Having small children, I thought if
one of mine had something -wrong, I
hope someone out there would be
tested and would be a match," he says.
Nessel underwent a bone marrow
donation procedure, under general
anesthesia, as an outpatient on a
Thursday in December 1999. He was
given a prescription pain medication,
but stopped taking it the next evening.
By Monday, he was at work again,
im Kyro, clinical care coordina-
tor at the University of Michigai
Bone Marrow Transplant Program at
the U-M Health System in Ann
Arbor, is conducting the search for a
bone marrow donor for Gary Weiss.
The hospital is both a transplant
site and collection center.
Kyro says it is actually the stem
cells within the bone marrow that
are used for transplants. When
mature, stem cells become red or
white blood cells or platelets. Whit
blood cells fight infection; red bloo
cells carry oxygen and give energy;
platelets allow the blood to clot.
Stem cells are collected in two way
• Removal of bone marrow,
which holds stem cells. Under gen-
eral anesthesia, needles are inserted
in hip bones. Risk factors include
those associated with general anes-
thesia, infeCtion and bleeding from
the site.
Most donors take prescription
pain medication for a couple of
days and are back on daily schedu l
within four days. Kyro describes tl
pain after the procedure as "an
ache, like after falling on the ice."
• Pherisis or peripheral blood sten
cell collection. Blood, drawn from
one arm of the donor, is filtered
throu g h a machine that collects sten
cells and then the donor's own bloo
is returned through the other arm.
This procedure is performed folio\
ing five days of injections of the
growth factor, neupogen, adminis-
tered to stimulate stem cells from
inside the bone marrow into the
blood stream. It may take up to four
or five hours and is sometimes per-
formed over a period of two days.
This procedure is more successful
when recipients and donors are relat
ed, with a reduced chance of rejectio
Complications to the recipient
after transplantation include the
bone marrow's rejection of its new
host body, which can be fatal.
Because chemotherapy is adminis-
tered prior to the transplant, patien
immune systems are destroyed, mat
ing them susceptible to infection.
"The hope is that the infusion o
new bone marrow will take over
and give them healthy bone mar-
row," Kyro says.
She says both donors and recipi -
ents undergo procedures in their
hometown hospitals.
Upbeat about Weiss's future, sh
says, "Gary's going to have his
transplant here with us." Cl