Dr. Kenneth Schwartz, an oncologist and hematologist at the MSU College of Human Medicine who treated Case, said it is important to expand the donor pool, especially among minorities who are under-represented among potential donors.
Currently, seven of 10 people needing a transplant must rely on an unrelated donor for a suitable match, according to the Bone Marrow Foundation. Until about a decade or so ago, surgeons mostly extracted the marrow from a donor's hip while the patient was under anesthesia. Now, in most cases, doctors extract stem cells in a relatively noninvasive process and use the cells to cultivate the marrow.
To learn more about stem cell research, visit Right to Life of Michigan's stem cell web site, www.stemcellresearchcures.com.
