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Published: Saturday, June 23, 2007

Ohio girl saved by marrow donation

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Her donor, from Arkansas, was a surprise guest at her graduation party.

SEARCY, Ark. (AP) — Ohio teenager Rachel Otto was staring death in the face at 17. She had suffered from aplastic anemia her whole life, and now as a teenager the disease had destabilized.

"I was depressed because I thought I wouldn't make it to senior year or to graduation," she said. "The worst parts were being too sick and too weak to see my friends."

She made it to her graduation party, and so did someone who helped her get there.

Danny Joslin, a Searcy resident, donated bone marrow that saved Rachel Otto's life. He then drove to Loveland, near Cincinnati, last weekend to meet Rachel at her graduation party.

"When her father introduced me to her, she gave me a quick hug, started crying and then hugged me longer," Joslin said. "She was scared of the future in front of her because she was afraid that she wouldn't have a future."

Otto was diagnosed when she was 2, said Kimberli Otto, Rachel's mother. After several drug treatments and transfusions, she became stable until May 2005. Then her condition worsened, and it was clear that her only chance to survive was through a bone marrow transplant, Kimberli Otto said.

"When she was first diagnosed, it was scary because it was unknown," Otto said. "This was before the Internet, so there was no way to research this stuff."

What it is

Aplastic anemia occurs when someone's bone marrow stops making enough blood-forming stem cells, according to the Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation's Web site. Patients with aplastic anemia suffer from low counts in red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets, according to the Web site.

Rachel Otto's platelet count was so low that she could have bled to death in five minutes if she had been injured in a car accident, her mother said. She had to receive blood transfusions every time she caught a cold because her body could not produce white blood cells. But before her condition destabilized, she led a more-or-less normal life, except that she could not play sports.

"At times, I was kind of jealous watching my friends participate on the field," she said.

Joslin registered to become a bone marrow donor when a family at his church had a child, Dakota Hawkins, suffering from leukemia. Several others at his church joined Joslin in registering to become bone marrow donors.

"Seeing what the Hawkins family went through, I just saw an opportunity to save a life," Joslin said.

Doctors took several blood samples from Joslin to determine if he could donate bone marrow to Dakota. The blood samples indicated that Joslin's bone marrow was incompatible with Hawkins, but he was a more than suitable donor for Otto, Joslin said.

"It was a perfect match," Joslin said.

Dakota died, but Joslin gave his bone marrow anyway. Joslin actually left Dakota's funeral to fly to St. Louis to give his marrow. On March 31, 2006, Otto received that marrow.

"I felt ecstatic," she said.

Surprise guest

While the Ottos were told that doctors would likely find a suitable donor on the register, they were "just grateful" that someone would donate their marrow. To show their appreciation, Otto's father invited Joslin to her graduation party last weekend. Joslin agreed to arrive the night before. Rachel Otto said she did not know he was coming.

"I didn't invite him to my party because I didn't think he would come from as far away as Arkansas," Otto said.

Otto graduated with a 3.9 grade-point average this year and plans to go to Bowling Green University in Ohio next fall. Joslin described her as "full of life with a big smile."

"She wanted to tell me about all her friends and everything," Joslin said.

The process of donating bone marrow is painful, though doctors put donors to sleep for the actual operation, Joslin said. Doctors drill holes in the donor's pelvis and then pump out the marrow. The operation takes on average three months to recover from, though it took Joslin six months because of nerve damage, he said.

"I had to scoot. I could barely walk," he said. "It was a sacrifice on a lot of people's part."

Joslin could not work for a month, and he felt pain and numbness in his back for two months, he said. Immediately after the operation, he said, he could barely stand up. Family members had to run Joslin's business, Grandpa's Bar-B-Que, while he was recovering, but he would do it all again, he said.

"There are a lot of stories of people backing out," Joslin said. "I can't believe anyone would do that."

Saturday, June 23, 2007