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The Most Rewarding Experience UNH students volunteer to donate bone marrow By Lori Wright

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Lisa Nugent/UNH Photographic Services Erik Poulin '13 and Amira Kabbara '11

Amira Kabbara '11 was sitting in the living room at Alpha Phi sorority house in September 2009 when an unfamiliar New York phone number appeared on her cell phone. On the other end of the line, a woman from DKMS Americas—the world's largest bone marrow donor center—informed her that she was a possible match for a patient needing a bone marrow transplant. Kabbara had encouraged her sorority sisters to participate in a bone marrow drive the previous spring, but she never thought she would get a call.

"I went with my roommates and we were all saying how amazing it would be to save a life, but after we learned that only one in 25,000 would actually be a match to a patient, our hopes went down," Kabbara says. "I honestly had no idea that I would ever be a match."

Kabbara and her sorority sisters are among more than 2,500 UNH students who have been tested via a quick cheek swab to be bone marrow donors through drives organized by the student organization Giovanni's Team and UNH football. The university has had an unprecedented nine possible matches from its bone marrow donors, including one student who was a two-time match.

Three UNH students in all have gone through the lengthy bone marrow donation process, which involves numerous medical tests, injections to stimulate the growth of blood and stem cells, and finally, the eight-hour procedure to donate bone marrow. In December 2009, Kabbara helped a 60-year-old man with acute lymphoblast leukemia.

"It was an easy decision when I got the call saying that I was a potential match. Thinking that I could save a life—someone's child, mom, father, uncle, friend. I didn't care who I could potentially save, I just knew I wanted to do it," Kabbara says. "It is the most rewarding and amazing experience. If you have the chance to save someone's life, do it."

Lisa Nugent/UNH Photographic Services Catie Perrella '11

In December 2009, UNH track and field athlete Catie Perrella '11 found out she was a match. She donated her marrow right before she graduated from UNH; she does not know the identity of the person she helped.

And in October, Erik Poulin '13 learned he is a one-in-400 million match to two people needing bone marrow transplants. In December, the UNH engineering student donated his marrow at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center to try to help save the life of a 65-year-old woman with leukemia.

Perrella says her initial reaction was "complete shock. I even actually started crying as I couldn't believe that I had actually been matched and would be given the chance to help someone." After weighing the risks and speaking to her track coach and family, she decided to move forward with the donation in May 2011.

"My parents, coach, and I all agreed that this was a person's life, and it was truly an honor and a gift that I had been matched with this person and was given an opportunity to try and help them survive," she says. "And no matter the risks it may have imposed on me or the loss of a track season, helping someone was much more important."

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