‘I never had a
second thought’: College athlete
cuts career short to save stranger’s life
A man with blood cancer was desperate for healthy bone
marrow and Cameron Lyle was the only match on a national registry of potential
donors
Cameron Lyle has asked a lot of his body over the years, but
he never expected it to save the life of a stranger.
A shot put star on the University of New Hampshire track and
field team, Lyle was at the pinnacle of his collegiate athletic career when he
had to make a profound decision.
A man with blood cancer was desperate for healthy bone
marrow and Lyle was the only match on a national registry of potential donors.
The only problem: if Lyle decided to donate, it would mean missing some of the
most important track meets of his senior season.
Faced with cutting his career short, Lyle focused only on
the chance to save someone’s life.
“I was surprised, I was pretty happy. I said yes right
away,” Lyle, 21, told TODAY. “And then afterwards I thought about everything
that that meant giving up, but I never had a second thought about donating. If
I had said no, he wouldn’t have had a match.”
Lyle had all but forgotten the Be The Match Registry drive
that came to his university two years ago. He allowed his cheeks to be swabbed
and didn’t think much more of it. Only 1 out of 540 people who sign up go on to
donate, according to the National
Marrow Donor Program, which operates the Be The Match Registry.
Then, two months ago, he got a call. Lyle was told he was a
possible match for a young man with a rare form of leukemia, a disease that
gets worse quickly if not treated, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Lyle underwent blood tests, which confirmed he was a
definite match. Once he agreed to donate – something “any kind of decent human
being” would do, he said -- more tests followed to make sure he didn’t have any
health problems. Time was of the essence.
“They gave me a pretty strict deadline because my recipient
needed it pretty fast,” he said.
Everything was a go and last week, Lyle headed to
Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to share his bone marrow with a
stranger.
There are two ways to harvest the cells, according to the
National Marrow Donor Program, with most collections done in an outpatient
procedure that’s similar to donating blood. A quarter of cases, however,
require a surgical procedure in which doctors insert a special needle into the
hollow of donor’s hip bone. A syringe attached to the needle draws out the
marrow. The procedure usually requires general anesthesia and an overnight
hospital stay.The recipient's doctor determines which method is best. Lyle needed to undergo the surgical option.
It took two hours for doctors to collect about two liters –
some eight cups -- of bone marrow from Lyle’s pelvic bone. His body will
regenerate the marrow in about two weeks.
Most people can return to their full activities within days
after the donation, according to Dr. Jeffrey Chell, CEO of the National Marrow
Donor Program.
But most people aren’t track stars who hurl heavy metal
objects as part of their normal routine.
Doctors told Lyle to take it easy and not lift more than 20
pounds for about a month – routine advice after any surgical procedure, Chell
said -- effectively ending his collegiate track career.
“This is just an incredible, incredible story of what
Cameron [Lyle] has been willing to do,” said Chell.
Since anonymity is crucial to the donor process, TODAY was
unable to obtain information as to the recipient’s condition since receiving
Lyle’s bone marrow donation. However, a spokesperson for Be the Match said
after a transplant, “recovery is gradual and usually takes several months or
more.”
One-year survival rates for patients who receive transplants
from unrelated donors was 60.3 percent in 2011, up from 42.2 percent in 2003.
Lyle said he was told that the man received his transplant
the day after he donated but that he “won’t get an update on his condition for
30 days.”
Until then, he plans on recuperating and watching his
teammates compete at the America East Conference where he’d planned on “going
out pretty big.” Lyle’s donation also meant missing the Penn Relays and other
events where he wanted to shine after eight years of shot put training.
“But it’s OK,” he said. “It was worth it. I would do it
again, too.”