Jamie Caille got a bunch of his high school friends together Thursday morning to find potential life savers.
Jamie probably needs a stem cell transplant, and while there’s an outside chance someone at his Guelph high school might be a perfect match, he had others in mind when he organized a donor event at the school.
Caille, 17, is a Grade 12 Centennial CVI student who was diagnosed two years ago with severe aplastic anemia. He’s had two treatments, including one in September that has improved his health. But he will most likely need a stem cell transplant to sustain his life.
At the school Thursday morning, he said the donor event helps set an example for younger students, inspiring others to keep the effort going in coming years.
“I just got treated a month and a half ago, and it’s slowly getting better,” he said. “It’s always good to be optimistic and hope that I don’t need the stem cell transplant. But if I have to, it would be good to have the match. The best thing would be to get it, if my health deteriorates.”
The procedure is very invasive, he said, and there would be a long recovery time.
“I’ve been lucky that it hasn’t affected me quite as badly as it could some others,” he said, explaining that he is more of a brain guy than a brawn one, so he’s been able to continue to pursue his academic interests. He wants to study computer science after high school.
Susan Gabriele, Jamie’s mother, said when her son first got sick at 15, he was flown by helicopter to McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton. It took days before a diagnosis was made.
Aplastic anemia, which is extremely rare, is a failure of the bone marrow to produce new blood cells.
“You can only have the treatment two times, and after that a bone marrow transplant is necessary,” Gabriele said. “If he doesn’t respond to this treatment the second time, he will absolutely have to have a bone marrow transplant.”
The Canadian Blood Services sponsored swabbing drive at the school will help others that need bone marrow matches, she added. If her son finds a perfect match and receives a successful transplant, he will live a long, healthy life.
“It is very rare to find that perfect match,” Gabriele added. “Jamie has one perfect match in the system. Me, being a mom, I want him to have more, just in case that one falls through.”
She said some of the kids getting swabs Thursday morning may become matches for someone on an international registry.
“Hopefully these kids will become someone’s hero today, and that’s what the goal is,” she added.
The One Match Stem Cell and Marrow Network of Canadian Blood Services seeks registrants between the age of 17-35, said Sharr Cairns, territory manager.
“For Jamie to come forward and share his story is a huge awareness campaign for us, and it is very kind of him to do that,” she said. “He understands that what he’s doing is raising awareness for all of the almost 1,000 other patients in Canada who are looking for a match. He is raising hopes for patients, who are perhaps going to need a stem cell transplant in the future, that their match is going to be on the registry.”
Over 80 diseases benefit from stem cell transplants. In many cases a transplant is the last hope for a patient.
A total of 169 people, students and adults among them, registered at Jamie's event.
