Marcos de la Fuente rejects being called a hero because two years ago he donated bone marrow to a stranger, who could well be his neighbor, a Spanish citizen or another who lives on the other side of the planet. “Don’t be fooled, I’m not a hero. But I’m the one who’s grateful! ”He exclaims with a laugh. Yes, he says, very happy for having been able to contribute his grain of sand and ensure that this unknown man or woman has more years of life. “For me, it’s just been exciting.”
At his side is María Revuelta, a former leukemia patient. It was detected when she was 22 weeks pregnant. A transplant was impossible in her condition, so chemotherapy arrived. When she gave birth to Eva, they considered a transplant. First they looked for donors among the family, but there was no one compatible (the chance of compatibility is one in four).
María found a compatible donor thanks to the world registry of bone marrow donors, to which the Spanish Redmo belongs (managed by the Josep Carreras Foundation), with 40 million donors from 60 countries. In Redmo, there are just under half a million registered. On July 20, 2011, the transplant was performed. “I can only be grateful to the donors. “I am delighted to share my life with Eva, who is 12 years old,” María says excitedly.
Marcos had no idea that bone marrow could be donated. He found out about four years ago at work. A colleague told him that he had gone to the donor registry to offer himself and that he hoped that one day they would call her so he could donate. That would mean that they had found a compatible patient with leukemia or multiple melanoma, among other hematological diseases. That would be when the donation would occur.
The young man pouted, he remembers. “The only thing that came to mind was the pain that was so great that it must be like having a huge needle stuck in your spine!” He narrates. But his partner dispelled the myth: donating the bone marrow doesn’t hurt. You are sedated and a small amount of marrow blood is removed from the back of your hip bone. And that’s it. There is no risk and most of all, a slight discomfort in the area of ??the puncture, like all punctures.
Once his fear had disappeared, Marcos volunteered as a donor at a blood transfusion center in his community. The only initial requirement is to fill out a form and undergo a small blood draw in order to determine his histocompatibility group. And, of course, be between 18 and 40 years old and in good health. The criterion of good health consists of not suffering from cardiovascular, renal, pulmonary, liver or hematological disease, or other chronic conditions that require continued treatment, and not having a history or risk of having suffered infections from the hepatitis B, C, or AIDS.
Marcos feels “lucky” because he was called by the Josep Carreras Foundation. Many other donors are never called. In his case, he had to “compete” with two other possible matches. In the end it was he who donated, because he was the most suitable. “It was worth it, I don’t doubt it,” he insists.
María and Marcos told their stories at an event held last week at the Ministry of Health, chaired by the director of the National Transplant Organization (ONT), Beatriz Domínguez-Gil, and the Minister of Health, José Miñones. Along with them, Juliana Villa, director of the Carreras Foundation, who asked to increase the number of donors, especially among young men, the profile that is most scarce in Spain and, however, “the one that works best for transplants.”
And Spain, a leader in donations and transplants, “falters” when it comes to bone marrow. A good portion of those who have volunteered to donate are women (two out of every three), with an average age of 32 years. Furthermore, of the 480,000 registered donors, 85,000 are over 50 years old, which implies that in ten years, these citizens will disappear from the registry. “Our lives are going well, because we can all be in that situation, or a family member,” said the director of the Josep Carreras Foundation, who recalls that bone marrow donations decrease every year, despite the fact that about 600 transplants are performed. a year in Spain, 25,000 in the world. “We must increase the chances of having compatible marrow blood and, above all, from men (in the rest of the world, 50% of donors are men).”
How to do it? Villa is clear about it: through social networks, something that Minister Miñones also agrees with. Young donors must be sought through the media in which they move. Few are going to go to the official pages of the Ministry of Health, the Carreras Foundation or the hospitals. “We have to go where the young people are and we have to do it now.”
