Student hits one-in-a-million shot as bone marrow donor
by Diana De Leon, Feature Editor

    To some people, winning the lottery is exciting, but to one NE Campus student, the possibility of saving a life is more exciting.
    Ashley Allen will soon learn if she is a marrow donor match for a 5-year-old leukemia patient.
    "I feel like I won the lottery," she said. "I am just so excited; I have told everyone about it."
    Allen's decision to donate bone marrow was a thoughtful and spiritual journey that she said made her think a lot about life.
    The journey started innocently enough with a Phi Beta Kappa luncheon that Allen attended.
    A representative of the National Marrow Donor Program spoke to the crowd of honor students and urged them to become donors.
    Allen was intrigued by the idea, but afraid of it at the same time for medical reasons and because she hates needles.
    A psychology major in her last semester at TCC, she knew NMDP was looking for committed donors.
    NMDP, a non-profit organization, facilitates unrelated marrow transplants for patients who do not have a relative who matches.
    Founded in 1986, NMDP has facilitated over 12,000 unrelated transplants.
    By joining the registry, Allen promised to be available any time she was called. Changing one's mind is a matter of life and death for the patient and, therefore, not an option.
    Allen is a worrier and more so than most people because she has generalized anxiety disorder, which means she worries about everything all the time and for no reason.
    "I discovered it when I was in psychology class, and I took the doctor a whole list of things," she said. "The doctor was impressed, and he agreed with my diagnosis."
    Allen started taking Paxil for her anxiety disorder, but she would have to face more medical problems.
    Allen was still thinking and praying a lot about becoming a donor, and at a TCC health fair in November, she signed up and became a member of the donor registry.
    "I prayed about it and felt God was really pushing me toward it," she said.
    In December Allen was diagnosed with severe anemia and a blood clot was found in her left wrist.
    She underwent two iron drips at the Texas Cancer Center and was checked for cancer, leukemia and lupus.
    A 12-hour procedure turned into a four-day ordeal for Allen when doctors treated her blood clot with an arteriogram, a catheter that was to dissolve her blood clot, and performed a bone marrow biopsy. Allen claims that the biopsy tickled and did not hurt at all.
    "I believe that God put me in the hospital to clean my blood for that little girl," she said.
    Allen has already given more than six vials of blood to be tested and is still waiting to hear if she is a tissue match for the young leukemia patient.
    Hoping she is a match for the little girl, Allen believes there is no greater feeling in the world than being able to help someone else. "I could save a life," she said. "This little girl could grow up and lead a normal life because of this."
    Allen urges more students to become donors and claims that winning the lottery could not feel better than saving a life.