Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 1, 1 January 1990 — Family of leukemia patient seeks marrow donor [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Family of leukemia patient seeks marrow donor

by Deborah Lee Ward Roland and Kanoe Kealoha, Hawaiian homesteaders at Waimanalo, O'ahu, parents of a 7-year-old daughter, Amoe Kealoha, are making an urgent plea for help from the people of Hawai'i, especially people of Native Hawaiian ancestry. Amoe is suffering from acute lymphocytic leukemia, a disease of the white blood cells. While Amoe has responded to the standard treatment of drugs and chemotherapy, these have not arrested the progress of her disease. She may not have long to live, says her physician Dr. Robert Wilkinson of Children's Hospital. There is hope, however. Amoe is a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. The procedure has been used successfully for children and adults who otherwise had little ehanee to escape this fatal disease. If she is able to find a blood marrow donor whose tissue antigens match her own Amoe has a ehanee for a normal life. If not, she may not live beyond four months. To proceed with the urgently needed transplant matching bone marrow from a compatible donor must be found as soon as possible. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is asking for help from the public in the search for such a donor. The odds are against Amoe and time is limited. Amoe, who is half-Hawaiian, Chinese and Caucasian, needs a willing donor. While the best tissue matches tend to eome from siblings, Amoe's younger brother does not match her tissue need. Tests of her immediate family and 'ohana have not turned up a possible donor, and now her only hope lies in finding that special individual whose tissue ean match her own. Because, by some estimates, the chances of finding an exact donor match are one in 20,000, the family and friends of Amoe Kealoha have made it their goal to boost the number of registered bone marrow donors to 20,000 or more. For this reason they have launched a statewide effort, with the Hawai'i Bone Marrow Donor Re-

gistry, to get Hawai'i residents, particularly Native Hawaiians, tested as potential donors. Free screening sessions are now being organized in communities throughout the state. People of Hawaiian ancestry are especially urged to eome forward to be tested for a match, in addition to anyone who is 18- to 55-years-old and in good health. Qualifying requirements are similar to that of a person donating whole blood to a blood bank. Ethnic ancestry or having a certain blood type is not a requirement to qualify as a donor. However, Dr. Young K. Paik, director of the 2-year-old

Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry at St. Francis Hospital said there is a critical need for marrow donors in Hawai'i, due to our unique multi-racial society. Only a few dozen registrants are currently on file here. Even Hawaiians living on the mainland have had to contact the Hawai'i registry when mainland programs have been unable to locate a donor there. Hawaiians, it seems, are truly related by blood as Paik explained that certain blood tissue antigens are found only in Hawaiians. Amoe's best ehanee may be to find a Hawaiian donor. The bone marrow registry program will screen volunteers and take a blood sample for HLA (human leucocyte antigen) tissue typing. All information in the Hawai'i Registry is shared with a national donor computer registry for instant reference.

Amoe Kealoha