Be the Match: GC Junior Katy Gilmore Donates Bone Marrow to Help Save a Life

Published: April 13, 2021

On June 28, 2009 GC Junior, Katy Gilmore, flew to Washington D.C. to participate in a five hour Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC) process. After signing up as a "potential donor" during a 2008 bone marrow drive at Greenville College, Katy received the call that she was a "match" for a sixty year old female in the U.S.

In January of 2008 Greenville College hosted a bone marrow drive seeking donors and "matches" for a faculty member's granddaughter. Most students participated and many put their name on the National Marrow Donor Registry list of lifetime potential donors. Katy Gilmore was one of these students. "I didn't really think about much again until I got the call." In May, 2009, almost a year and a half later, Katy received a call from the National Marrow Donor Program to let her know that she was a potential match for a donation. "I was very surprised and so was my family, but they were really supportive. It all seemed like good timing so I started the process to see how it would go." says Katy.

Afterresearching and reading about marrow donation and whata "Yes"would entail, Katy accepted. The six week process began with blood tests. "I don't like needles at all," Katy explained, "so I was pretty worried about that, but I thought I could probably do it and it actually lessened my fear of needles." Her blood work was tested by the National Marrow Program and they called back in early June to let Katy know, "You're the one!" Over the course of the next couple of weeks Katy underwent more testing and preparation, a physical and five days before the actual donation day she began getting shots of Filgrastim, a medical supplement used to increase the amount of marrow stem cells in the bloodstream so the marrow could be collected directly through her blood. For five days she received two shots of the Filgrastim per day to help transport cells from her bone marrow into her blood.

On June 28 Katy and her parents flew to Washington D.C., one day prior to Katy's scheduled marrow donation. The entire process took about five hours as the machines drew Katy's blood out, filtered the marrow cells out of the blood for the donation and then returned her blood back to her body. "After it was all over I was pretty achy and uncomfortable, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. It actually wasn't that hard on my body and within four days I was perfectly fine." Katy explained. The Gilmores spent a couple of days sightseeing in D.C. while Katy regained her strength and then headed back home to Greenville. "I would encourage people to sign up to give," Katy says, "I would definitely do it again."

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