By SHARON COHEN, ASSOCIATED PRESS October 31, 1999
MONDOVI, Wis. — Long before they ever met, Elly saved Rhonda's life.
Elly's name had been on a national bone marrow donor list for two years when the Red Cross called. A 24-year-old woman was desperately ill with leukemia. Would she come in for a blood test?
Elly might be the one person among millions who could help this stranger.
Sure, she would try.
Then the blood test results came back: She was a nearly perfect match.
Elly had her bone marrow extracted, and checked periodically on the progress of the woman, who had been given just a 1-in-5 chance of survival.
By law, the two women were barred from knowing each other's identity for a year.
After that, Elly Bertrand, the donor, and Rhonda Dietze Jensen, the recipient who beat the odds, became acquainted. It turned out that among the 3.7 million people on the bone marrow donor list, some of them continents away, these two women were practically neighbors: They lived 77 miles apart.
They wrote each other, called, met and became friends.
Five years passed, and Rhonda was sick again; her kidneys were failing.
The best option: a transplant.
The best donor candidate: Elly.
But Elly had already made one sacrifice. This surgery was more complicated, the recovery much longer. There were her three young sons to consider. What if something went wrong?
Rhonda didn't think she could dare approach her.
"How," she says, "do you ask a person to save your life twice?"
*
Truth is, Elly had tried once before to be a Good Samaritan.
It was a baby boy who needed a marrow transplant she had read about in her local newspaper. Elly thought of her sons. And when she saw a photo of the baby with his deep blue eyes, she couldn't resist.
But she wasn't a match. Two years later, when the call came, Elly didn't hesitate. "If I have good health, I might as well share it," she says.
Her mother was terrified. Co-workers said she was foolish, even crazy. A long needle stuck into your bone? For a mother, a husband, a child--of course.
But a stranger?
"Everybody told me they suck the bone marrow out of your spine, and you're going to be paralyzed," Elly remembers in her husky voice.
She wasn't deterred by those falsehoods, though she confesses that a photo of the needle and syringe made her flinch.
MONDOVI, Wis. — Long before they ever met, Elly saved Rhonda's life.
Elly's name had been on a national bone marrow donor list for two years when the Red Cross called. A 24-year-old woman was desperately ill with leukemia. Would she come in for a blood test?
Elly might be the one person among millions who could help this stranger.
Sure, she would try.
Then the blood test results came back: She was a nearly perfect match.
Elly had her bone marrow extracted, and checked periodically on the progress of the woman, who had been given just a 1-in-5 chance of survival.
By law, the two women were barred from knowing each other's identity for a year.
After that, Elly Bertrand, the donor, and Rhonda Dietze Jensen, the recipient who beat the odds, became acquainted. It turned out that among the 3.7 million people on the bone marrow donor list, some of them continents away, these two women were practically neighbors: They lived 77 miles apart.
They wrote each other, called, met and became friends.
Five years passed, and Rhonda was sick again; her kidneys were failing.
The best option: a transplant.
The best donor candidate: Elly.
But Elly had already made one sacrifice. This surgery was more complicated, the recovery much longer. There were her three young sons to consider. What if something went wrong?
Rhonda didn't think she could dare approach her.
"How," she says, "do you ask a person to save your life twice?"
*
Truth is, Elly had tried once before to be a Good Samaritan.
It was a baby boy who needed a marrow transplant she had read about in her local newspaper. Elly thought of her sons. And when she saw a photo of the baby with his deep blue eyes, she couldn't resist.
But she wasn't a match. Two years later, when the call came, Elly didn't hesitate. "If I have good health, I might as well share it," she says.
Her mother was terrified. Co-workers said she was foolish, even crazy. A long needle stuck into your bone? For a mother, a husband, a child--of course.
But a stranger?
"Everybody told me they suck the bone marrow out of your spine, and you're going to be paralyzed," Elly remembers in her husky voice.
She wasn't deterred by those falsehoods, though she confesses that a photo of the needle and syringe made her flinch.
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