Rare Contribution : Donated Bone Marrow May Help Save a Life

The first time Rich Bullock gave blood, he fainted. He hasn’t even considered donating since.

But last fall, spurred by the death of a friend seven years ago, he joined the National Marrow Donor Program, which attempts to match volunteers with patients in need of marrow.

And on Thursday, he will allow doctors to stick a needle into his lower back and draw his bone marrow to help a 34-year-old dying man he doesn’t even know.

Bullock, 42, of Newbury Park, was notified in January that his marrow is compatible with the man, who doctors say needs the marrow to battle leukemia.

Confidentiality rules prohibit Bullock from learning the name of the patient, or even the city where he lives. But Bullock does know that the odds of his bone marrow matching the man’s were 1 in 20,000.

“If I needed marrow, or my family needed it, I would want as many people to sign up for it as possible,” he said, referring to the National Marrow Donor Program, which tested and then matched his bone marrow.

The computer specialist first heard about the donor program eight years ago, but didn’t participate because he couldn’t afford the $100 blood test, he said.

He joined the program last fall when his company, Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks, offered to pay for employees’ blood tests so they could donate, Bullock said.

According to Julie Greenway, a spokeswoman for the donor program, a sibling has a 1 in 4 chance of having compatible bone marrow with a patient, but the odds jump to 1 in 20,000 for someone who is not related. Greenway said the donor program has half a million potential marrow donors in its registry, and there are 9,000 patients who are waiting for a match.

The program has matched 1,200 patients and donors since the registry was created in 1987.

Bullock said he felt compelled to donate. “I had a friend several years ago who died from leukemia,” he said.

The leukemia patient will pay for Bullock’s short stay at the UCLA Medical Center, and Bullock said he expects to be discharged Friday and be back to work on Tuesday. His body will replenish the lost bone marrow in about 10 days.

Despite his previous experience with giving blood, Bullock feels confident that the donation will go smoothly. “I passed out before because I hadn’t eaten anything all day before I gave blood,” he said.

At first, doctors were afraid that a loose tooth in Bullock’s mouth might accidentally get knocked out while tubes were being placed down his throat to administer anesthesia. Remote as the scenario was, it threatened to disqualify him as a donor, Bullock said.

He solved the problem by having the front tooth pulled about five weeks ago, he said. “It was something that needed to be done later in the future anyway,” he said. “That was probably the most painful part of this whole thing.”

According to Greenway, about 30% to 85% of patients who undergo a marrow transplant recover from their illness, depending on the type of leukemia and how far it has progressed. The patient who is awaiting Bullock’s healthy bone marrow has undergone a week of intense radiation and chemotherapy in an effort to kill all the cancerous cells in his body, she said.

Because his immune system is so depleted from the therapy, he will remain in isolation until Bullock’s marrow is hand-carried to him by courier, Greenway said.

Ironically, the biotechnology firm that Bullock works for developed two drugs that are used to treat leukemia patients, he said. Amgen developed Epogen, which stimulates blood-cell growth in bone marrow, and neupogen, which helps fight infections in chemotherapy patients, Bullock said.

“It’s really such a neat privilege to do this,” Bullock said.

Times correspondent Kay Saillant contributed to this report.