Posted on December 17, 2001 at 12:24 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Air Force Lt. Todd Carlson is in a career to protect lives. To a UAB leukemia patient he’s already a lifesaver. On Saturday, December 15, about eighteen months after anonymously donating bone marrow through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), Carlson met the patient, Clarence Martin. The meeting took place at UAB Hospital during ceremonies celebrating the 10th anniversary of the university’s bone marrow transplant program.
Carlson, a medic before going to officer training school, donated his bone marrow in Denver, but since has been transferred to Eglin AFB near Ft. Walton Beach, Florida. Both men are 31 years old. NMDP rules require that a year pass before donor and recipient may meet each other.
Martin, from Columbus, Georgia, suffered from advanced chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). He entered UAB for transplantation in May 2000. He could not be transplanted with his own marrow, and no matching marrow was available from family members. In such cases, the only alternative is marrow from an unrelated person.
In the last 15 years, the NMDP has facilitated approximately 12,000 unrelated transplants for patients with blood disorders, as well as some immune system and genetic disorders. It facilitates more than 130 transplants each month. In late November, a Montgomery woman came to UAB and donated marrow that was whisked by courier for transplantation later that day into a young man with a terminal prognosis. UAB is the only site in the state that is certified as an NMDP collection site.
“In 10 years the UAB Bone Marrow Transplantation Program has gone from startup status to a center capable of performing all types of bone marrow transplants,” said Dr. William Vaughan, director of the program. “More than 750 adult and pediatric transplants have been performed, the majority for leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma. A year ago the pediatric component was moved to specialized facilities at Children’s Hospital.”
The program is the only one in Alabama certified to conduct all types of bone and the only collection site for the National Bone Marrow Donor Program.