Atlas Twp.- A bone marrow drive for Mary Tison on Aug. 30 at the Ortonville Baptist Church was attended by more than 70 people, 61 of whom were tested for the National Bone Marrow Registry.
Tison has myelodysplasia, a blood disease in which her bone marrow does not produce enough red blood cells and platelets. Her story, ‘Transplant next chapter to stave off cancer,? appeared in The Citizen Aug. 22.
Tison needs a donor bone marrow transplant in order to have a chance at avoiding leukemia. She was recently told her five siblings are not a match for her, but 87 matches were found on the National Registry. The next step is to do additional testing on blocks of eight people. Another block of eight will be taken if a good match isn’t found.
‘I would like to thank everyone who gave their time and money to come out and support me and the bone marrow program,? says Tison, who is feeling pretty good, despite frequent blood transfusions and low platelet and white blood cell counts. ‘I’m not sure when I will get a transplant but I hope within the next couple months. It’s pretty amazing, you usually don’t get that many matches.?