Florida Catholic | Families Promote Marrow Registry

In hope and grief, families promote marrow registry

FLORIDA CATHOLIC STAFF REPORT

Published: 02.29.08

Richard Kolhoff, executive director of the diocesan Construction office, wipes his mouth with a cotton swab Feb. 12 as part of the registration process to become a bone marrow donor.
JANET SHELTON | FC

ST. PETERSBURG | Two families — one grieving, one hopeful — came together Feb. 12 in St. Petersburg to help others win their fights with cancer.

Melissa Rutland hosted a bone marrow donor registration drive at her business, Rutland Northeast Storage, in memory of her father, Bud Rutland, who died of leukemia April 17 at the age of 55.

Joining her was the family of Emily Lester, an 18-year-old leukemia patient whose efforts to support the bone marrow registry have inspired many in the Tampa Bay area to register on her behalf. Emily was diagnosed with cancer at age 12 and is awaiting her second transplant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

“She received a donation almost two years ago from her sister,” said Emily’s grandfather, Jim Previtera of St. Paul Parish in St. Petersburg. “Unfortunately, she relapsed last month.”

Emily’s best hope is that the National Bone Marrow Donor Registry will find a possible bone marrow donor who closely matches her marrow makeup. It won’t be easy, but increasing the number of donors increases the chance of finding a suitable match.

Seventy-four people were added to the registry in just a few hours at the Rutland event. Many of them were Catholics who learned of the drive through St. Paul’s Knights of Columbus council, which spread the word via e-mail.

Staffers at parishes and the Pastoral Center also responded.

Mike Meza, grand Knight, said the council was eager to do what it could to promote the cause.

“We put out the message to our council and the other councils in the district,” he said. “(Helping) is really what the Knights are all about.”

Joining the registry requires little more than personal information and a few swabs of saliva. About 6.7 million people currently are in the donor database.

Alongside the 74 people added to the bone marrow registry, 12 donated blood. Previtera says he was humbled by the response.

“St. Paul’s Parish has been extremely supportive of our family through all of this,” he said. “It really shows what it is to be part of a true Christian community.”

Bud Rutland wasn’t able to benefit from the donor program, but Melissa Rutland hopes that through her efforts, other families’ suffering can be avoided and other lives can be saved.

“It helps me because I’m doing something good for his memory,” she said.

“Hopefully, it will help people find a cure.”

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In hope and grief, families promote marrow registry

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