By Meg Peters
Review Staff Writer
For the Hamilton family, paying it forward could mean saving more than one life.
In this spirit, Lake Orion High School graduate Karrie Hamilton Jolly is on a mission.
She helped organize a Bone Marrow Registry Drive in honor of her mother, long time Lake Orion resident Linda Hamilton, in an effort to find Hamilton and others in her position a potential stem-cell or bone marrow transplant donor.
Hamilton, who has worked in the Clarkston Community Schools district for almost 40 years, was diagnosed with leukemia in September and is in search of a stem cell transplant donor. After two rounds of chemotherapy Hamilton is in good shape, and very happy she was able to spend Thanksgiving with her family.??
To help register more potential stem-cell transplant matches for her mother and others, Jolly contacted the Michigan Blood Be the Match program in an effort to rally the local communities to step up and register as donors.?
Be the Match is an organization that works with Michigan communities and families with a personal connection to blood disease or blood cancer patients, and supports those patients by hosting a bone marrow registry event and fundraiser.
Hamilton’s Bone Marrow Registry Drive is being held on Thursday, Dec. 11 at the Clarkston Community Education building from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m. The education building is located at 6558 Waldon Rd. in Clarkston.
The purpose is to add as many donors to the registry as possible, and to raise funds for an organization with a mission to save lives, Jolly said.
‘It’s a pay-it-forward kind of thing. My mom needs a stem cell transplant, and there is no one in our family that is a match for her,? she said. ‘If there is one stranger out there that could help, why not add them to the registry so we can help someone else out too.?
Interested participants must be in good health and be between the ages of 18 and 44. During the event donors will be asked to fill out a consent form and will be given a swab test. The swab test includes four cotton swabs that will be scrubbed on the inside of the cheek and placed in a secure envelope.
If a donor is a potential match for a patient they will have the same DNA markers or tissue types, known as Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA), according to Be the Match Community Engagement Representative Katie McClain.
If there is a match, a Michigan Blood representative will contact the donor with more information.
About one in every 500 donors is a match, McClain said.
‘There are over 11 million potential donors on the registry who have committed themselves to making a life-saving donation if ever matched. Although this number seems high, there are still patients who cannot find a match in the registry,? she said. ‘The more who join the more hope we give to searching patients.?
As part of the fundraising effort, the entire Clarkston School District is hosting a Be Casual fundraiser to help pay for the swab kit tests. Each swab kit collected at the registry costs Be the Match $100 to configure.
Jolly’s family is supporting their mother and wife every step of the way, and is not wasting any time.
Her father, Dale Hamilton, has been a volunteering as an Orion Township Station 3 firefighter for more than 35 yearsalong side Dave Ostertag, and is head custodian for Clarkston schools. Because he has been an employee there close to 40 years the district has graciously offered to open up their gym for the fundraiser, Jolly said. Both Linda and Dale Hamilton graduated from Clarkston High School in 1973 and 1972 respectively.
The Hamiltons moved to Lake Orion after growing up in Clarkston, and both Jolly and her sister Stacy Hamilton Cary graduated from Lake Orion High School, Jolly in 1994 and Cary in 2000.
This is the first step to helping find a donor for their mother, whether from this particular event, or events organized in the future.
With five little grandkids to play with, Linda Hamilton has much to look forward to, and needs the Lake Orion and Clarkston communities support.