Mentor Rotary Supports & Expands Marrow Donor List

In 1992, Carolyn Shandle-Cobb—the daughter of Mentor Rotarian Cliff Shandle—was diagnosed with leukemia and told she would need a bone marrow transplant. At that time, a transplant could only be done if the donor’s blood characteristics precisely matched those of the recipient.

There were two possible sources:

1. A related donor, where the chances of a match were roughly one in four.

2. An unrelated donor registered with the U.S. National Marrow Donor Program.

At the beginning of 1993, there were 912,851 potential donors registered with the program, and the odds of finding a match from that pool were estimated at one in twenty thousand.

When a family match wasn’t found for Carolyn, Cliff and his wife Shirley researched both marrow transplants and the National Marrow Donor Program. They learned that the registry was essentially a numbers game: the more people registered, the greater the chances of finding a match for any patient.

At that point, Cliff turned to his fellow Mentor Rotarians for help. To join the Registry, a person simply needed a blood test administered by the Red Cross. However, each test cost $45—a significant barrier at the time.

The Mentor Rotary Board of Directors listened and decided to take action. The club committed to:

• Recruiting new registrants,

• Organizing a testing drive with the American Red Cross, and

• Raising funds to cover testing costs.

Fortunately, the donor center had community matching funds that reduced Rotary’s share to $22.50 per test.

The first donor drive was held at the Mentor Civic Center on May 23, 1993. The club expected 500 people. Instead, more than 800 arrived.

Although only 740 could be tested that day, the response was so strong that a second drive was scheduled for June 23, testing an additional 222 people.

The project was off to a remarkable start.

Sadly, Carolyn passed away in July before she could receive a donation from a match that had already been identified. Even through that grief, the club resolved to continue the project and turn it into an annual effort.

Since 1993, Mentor Rotary has raised funds and sponsored yearly blood testing drives. While totals have naturally decreased over time—as more local donors joined the registry—by 2005 the club had added more than 3,600 names to the National Marrow Donor Program Registry.

Their work helped the Registry grow to more than 5.5 million registered donors by 2005—six times the number registered in 1993. The club’s publicity also inspired other Rotary clubs in the region to sponsor donor drives.

However, adding names to the Registry is just one part of the story. Of the 3,600 local names added through Mentor Rotary's efforts, 28 individuals—less than 1%—have been called to donate marrow or stem cells.

According to Linda Eckenbrecht, Program Coordinator for the National Marrow Donor Program for Northern Ohio and Indiana, those 28 donors represent more than 10% of all the donors in her region since the program began in 1987. This highlights the tremendous significance of Mentor Rotary’s work.

Four Mentor Rotarians—Mike Ross, Rick Ferris, Elfie Roman, and Marty LaMalfa—were among those donors. Each described the procedure as simple compared to the impact: the chance to save a human life.

One donor received a heartfelt card from a recipient’s family, sent anonymously as required for the first year:

“There isn’t a day goes by without us thinking of you.”

This project requires significant volunteer effort each year—from fundraising to event management—but the rewards are profound.

A letter written by donor Dean Peska, tested at the original 1993 drive, captures that meaning. Speaking of his donation in 2000, Dean wrote to Cliff Shandle:

“Outside of my marriage to Ellen and the birth of my children, Margaret, Molly, and Dan, this is the accomplishment that I am most proud of in my life. I now have a little of the feeling a mother feels with birthing a child—the feeling of giving life.”

Information about the National Marrow Donor Program can be found at www.marrow.org.