by Dawn Brazell
Public Relations

Sometimes doctors become patients to help patients.

That's the case for three MUSC doctors who became bone marrow or what's known as peripheral blood stem cell donors. These donors are critical to the 70 percent of people in need of a transplant who do not have a matching donor in their family. They are people such as ABC's co-anchor Robin Roberts who recently went public with her need for just such a donation, turning to the National Marrow Donor Program for help.

MUSC has had three doctors, William Jacobsen, Michelle Hudspeth and Eric Rovner, who have been willing to donate.

Cindy Kramer, R.N., lead blood marrow transplant coordinator at MUSC said it's an amazing thing that they do. "They do it out of the goodness of their hearts. It's doctors giving back."

Doctors obviously understand the need, but face busy schedules to be able to donate, said Jacobsen, a resident in emergency medicine. His department cooperated in supporting him being able to donate when he got the call that he was a match.

Dr. William Jacobsen said he was grateful his mother, Nancy, could come down to support him during his procedure. He encourages people to attend the bone marrow donor drive at MUSC, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m, July 24 at the Colbert Education Center & Library's portico.

The call was a shock for him. Jacobsen had a close friend organize a bone marrow drive in 2009 during his second year of medical school. "She kind of guilt-tripped me into it," he said, smiling. "I didn't think I'd ever be called."
In January, though, he got a call that he was a potential match and that they needed to do more testing. After he got over the shock, he found he was glad. Most people on the donor list never get called given the chance of being a match is one in 524. "After I heard about the potential, I was very excited that it could happen. It's just a cool thing to be a part of."

Jacobsen, M.D., who's been at MUSC since July 2011, said he thinks more people would register if they knew it just involved a cheek swab and that registering doesn't mean they will have to follow through on the donation."You can decide at any time you don't want to do it anymore."

Jacobsen had to take shots for five days leading up to the procedure of a drug that would boost his blood cell counts. He had some discomfort and achiness, but nothing that would deter him from recommending that others do the same. A donor's blood-forming cells return back to their normal levels within four to six weeks.

"To be able to save someone's life, there's no comparison."

Thousands of patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, sickle cell and other life-threatening diseases need a bone marrow transplant. There are two methods of donation: peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), the kind that Jacobsen had, and a bone marrow harvest.

His mother, Nancy, came down in April to give him support during the five-hour procedure. Jacobsen came to MUSC's apheresis room, where blood was removed from a vein in one arm and passed through a blood cell separator machine, which collects PBSC. Plasma and red blood cells were returned to him through his other arm.

"I'm proud of him," she said. "I'm thrilled that he's willing to do this. He's a true doctor at heart."

Eric S. Rovner, M.D., a professor in the Department of Urology, said he signed up as a donor when he was in medical school 25 years ago in New York. He got the call last year that he was a match and underwent the peripheral blood stem cell donation last summer.

He said the donor process was essentially painless, well organized and orchestrated.

"I think each doctor has to make their own decision for their own reasons. In my estimation, there is no downside to donation, and there is a substantial upside in being able to help another person who has no other options. It is rewarding and underscores the reason that many of us went to medical school in the first place."

Kramer said donors, between the ages of 18 to 60, are eligible for donation according to National Marrow Donor Program. "There is a one in four chance that each full sibling will be a perfect match. Seventy percent of patients turn to the registry for an unrelated matched donor because they do not have a sibling match. If you join the registry, you should be willing to help anyone who is in need of a blood and marrow transplant. "

People from different ethnic backgrounds, particularly African-American, are needed, but that's not to discourage white donors because they just may have that rare human leukocyte antigen or HLA tissue typing that's needed, she said.

"You could be that one person out of 10 million people on the registry who does match. We do encourage all people, no matter what your ethnic background is, to register so that when I'm searching for my patient, I have a better chance of finding them a match. You could be that special person that we are searching for to help save a life."