Reservist

ISS2 2013

Reservist Magazine is the award-winning official publication of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Bi-monthly issues include news and feature articles about the men and women who comprise America's premier national maritime safety and security

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Shipmates in Focus Me2 Michael franco, a reservist stationed at Coast guard Station new York, meets with Joyce Marcus, a florida resident, whose life was saved by his donated bone marrow. Photo by Pa3 Mark Barney. A Second Chance at Life Story by PA2 Jetta Disco How do you thank somebody who saved your life? After losing his grandfather to cancer in 2001, Brooklyn, N.Y., native Michael Franco, looked for a greater way in which he could help others. Already a contributor to the annual blood drives at the police academy, Franco learned of becoming a bone marrow donor. This decision would lead Franco to save a woman's life. In August 1999, 19-year-old Franco, joined the Coast Guard. Years later after several unit transfers, he made the decision to join the Coast Guard Reserve. This opportunity allowed him to pursue his interest in law enforcement by joining the New York Police Department. Meanwhile, in 2008, 61-year-old Joyce Marcus, president of her own marketing and communications firm in Chicago, had everything going for her. She had a successful business, was in a loving relationship, surrounded herself with incredible friends, traveled the world and was full of life. But then something changed; Marcus began experiencing a significant deterioration in her health. 38 RESERVIST � Issue 2 • 2013 Following a vacation where she felt extreme fatigue and weakness, Marcus made an appointment with her doctor; nothing could've prepared her for the long, arduous journey which lay ahead. Marcus was diagnosed with myelofibrosis with dysplastic features, a rare blood and bone disorder that replaces marrow with scar tissue. With only a 30 percent chance of survival, she was placed on the "Be the Match" waiting list to receive a stem cell transplant after learning no one in her family was a match. While her family wasn't a match, Franco was. "I just wanted to do it and it felt like the right thing to do," said Franco about his decision to donate. "Not everybody's a match. My mom's been on the donor list for 20 years and never received a phone call. I've been on the list since 2006 and received two calls, which I ended up being a match for. It's rare when you are and just to be able to do it and help somebody out and their family is worth it to me." The initial process of collecting the donor's cells is fairly simple; it entails a swab of the cheek to collect cells, which are then entered into a database of more than 20 million people. Once a match is found, the potential donor is then called upon to undergo the transplant process to donate their bone marrow. The

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