The search for a match

There are more than 10,000 leukemia, lymphoma and blood-cancer patients in need of a bone marrow transplant, according to the National Bone Marrow Donation website.

Charlie Crosby, the director of sports information and Norwich graduate of 1963, is one of those patients.

Crosby has been battling leukemia for nine years.

"Leukemia is a strange disease," he said. "It's very smart and it progresses. Each time it comes back it morphs to a different type of leukemia because it becomes immune to the different treatments. It finally morphed to the type (that) I need a bone marrow transplant."

In December of 2010 Crosby started looking for a bone-marrow match. There are 9 million people on the national registry for bone marrow donors. Crosby had a 93 percent chance to match someone based on his ethnicity and background. But he found no matches.

"I had a 93 percent chance to get one and I didn't get one which means I'm in that 7 percent no-match category," said Crosby.

He explained it is hard to find a match because bone marrow is a stem cell. Stem cell is DNA-specific, and each person has unique DNA. No one has a 100 percent match but if certain markers match, that is sufficient to get a transplant.

"I have a couple of rare markers it turns out in my DNA (and) that makes me kind of rare so (it) makes it hard for me to find someone," said Crosby.

Crosby explained his situation to Norwich President Richard Schneider, who suggested immediate action.

"I said, ‘Listen Charlie, this is the Norwich family, we all help each other. I'll give you my marrow,'" said Schneider. "Then I suggested, let's do something at school. We'll get everybody to figure out if they can be a donor. That led to a conversation, about let's bring all the alums in, let's get all the alumni clubs to do this."

The result has been a school-wide effort, both on and off campus, to get the Norwich family to register for the bone marrow registry.

"There are 10 thousand people in the United States that are in need of transplant that don't have a match. So every person that … is added to the registry, there's a chance that one of those 10 thousand people will have a match," said Jay Ericson, Norwich director of integrated marketing and communications. "So we are doing this for Charlie but we are also doing it for all the other people that are looking for a match."

Ericson, joined by Nicole M. DiDomenico, the director of Center for Civic Engagement, and Valerie A. McCarthy of the nursing department, quickly organized and promoted a bone marrow registry drive in conjunction with the school's February blood drive. A second bone-marrow drive occurred during the ECAC hockey tournament last weekend.

"This was important for Norwich and not just for Charlie but for the community and those that are need for a match," Ericson said

DiDomenico organized the bone marrow drive and worked with McCarthy to recruit volunteers for the drive.

"I received the training from DKMS, the organization that sends out all the materials for the bone marrow drive, and they have certain way they want the bone marrow drive to be done. I received that training and I train the other volunteers to administer the drive," said DiDomenico.

Ericson explained that his team created "In Charlie's Corner" on Facebook, which was the quickest way for them to have a presence online. The page provides information about what Crosby is going through and publicizes the drives.

"It is where we can talk about Charlie and what he is up against; we can talk about what the needs are of those who are looking for a match and provide resources about our drive and about organizations that help people sign up with the registry," said Ericson.

As a result of the February effort, 455 people registered. During the ECAC hockey finals, 61 more people registered to become a bone marrow donor. There will be more bone marrow register drives coming up, according to DiDomenico.

"I've been really moved by how quickly and how enthusiastically our Norwich community has come together to rally support for Charlie in this cause," said DiDomenico. "And not just the Norwich community here on campus but our alumni

base near and far has responded with amazing numbers."

The more people who register the greater the chance that Crosby or someone else will find a match.

According to Ericson, in 2008 there was a bone marrow drive on campus and a student at the time who is now a alum was a match. She donated and saved someone's life.

"If you're a match with somebody you can donate some of your stem cells and cure them and it's a great thing if you think about it," said Crosby

Charlie is trying to be optimistic through all this and hopes to find a match – even though he knows the chances are slim.

But he keeps his spirits high for other reasons.

"One of questions you ask when you get something like this is, "Why me." What have I done to deserve this horrible plague? I served my country, stayed married, … raised a family. Maybe the answer is so I can save somebody else. That's something I can hang my hat on. I can save somebody else."