Mary Manning and her family from southern Arizona are on a mission to find a blood stem cell match for her husband, Daniel.
YUMA, Arizona – Approximately 18,000 people in the United States develop life-threatening diseases each year where a bone marrow transplant or blood stem cell transplant could save their lives, according to bloodstemcell.hrsa.gov.
Mary Manning and her family from southern Arizona are on a mission to find a blood stem cell match for her husband, Daniel.
“My husband actually has myelofibrosis, a very rare blood cancer that usually only affects people over 65,” Manning said.
Daniel Manning, a 44-year-old Air Force veteran, is a Yuma firefighter and his family believe years of fighting fires caused his cancer.
“He was exposed to cancer-causing chemicals as a firefighter,” Manning said.
Since his diagnosis in December, it’s been a race against time to find him a blood stem cell match that will help his bone marrow make life-saving red blood cells, which essentially gives him a new immune system.
“The further the cancer progresses and the patient gets weaker, the harder it is to get the transplant to be successful,” said Manning.
Getting tested as a potential donor is easy. A candidate simply dabs the inside of their cheeks and sends the kit back.
About 80% of transplants are nonsurgical. They extract the stem cells from the donor’s blood and then the blood is returned to the donor. It’s similar to donating plasma.
Anyone can participate, including in the LGBTQ community. The register needs all ethnic groups.
Be The Match’s Lindsey Couts said the need for donors is a global need.
“Imagine if your tissue twin in the world got sick. Then we would call you if you were in our registry,” said Lindsey Couts.
Daniel Manning is undergoing chemotherapy and is still working, but the clock is ticking and he’ll need a match soon.
“There’s nothing that can save his life but a stem cell transplant,” Manning said.
If you want to see if you are a match, you can order a kit.
The family also set up a GoFundMe account to help with medical bills.
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