July 15, 2021
Vol. 22, No. 9
In This Issue FOUR SEASONS
The real version of a lifesaver
Four Seasons, by Kevin Box, in real life is located in front of the Center for Transformative Learning on the UCO campus, but this week is hidden somewhere in our paper. Email contest@edmondpaper.com with the correct location to be entered in the weekly drawing. For more information, see page 4.
A special museum dedicated to Miss Scarlett & Rhett Butler See page 12
FRIDAY, July 16
Isolated Thunderstorms High 90° Low 74°
SATURDAY, July 17 Partly Cloudy High 92° Low 74°
SUNDAY, July 18 Partly Cloudy High 90° Low 73°
Edmond woman’s stem cell donation saves stranger By Mallery Nagle Edmond neighbor Bailey Wetzel is a lifesaver. She even has a roll of the iconic candy to prove it. In May of this year, Wetzel traveled to Dallas to make a potentially lifesaving donation of her stem cells to someone she has never met. Wetzel works at the Oklahoma Children’s Hospital at The University of Oklahoma Medical Center as a certified child life specialist and a facility dog handler. She explained it is her role to normalize the hospital experience for pediatric patients and their families through play therapy and procedural preparation and support. Litta the chocolate Labrador lives with Wetzel and is also a hospital employee. Together they work to make to the hospital experience the best it can be. “We make it predictable,” she said. “We take the guesswork out of it.” She joined the registry some three years ago while working at her first job as a medical professional. Joining the registry requires a cheek swab that can be done at home. So when she received notification from DKMS, a bone marrow and stem cell donation organization, that she was a possible match for a pa-
tient, she did not think twice about going ahead with the process to confirm the match. “I come to work every day to make a difference,” she said. “This was an opportunity to make a massive difference.” Olivia Haddox, donor recruitment specialist for the agency, explained the acronym DKMS comes from a German term which loosely translated means “donor center.” About a week after the swabbing was repeated several times, she received the call from DKMS, informing her she was, indeed, a match. “At first, I froze and thought this is crazy,” she recalled. “This is an amazing opportunity.” After a phone call to learn what the process would entail, Wetzel underwent further testing and had lab work performed to ensure she was healthy enough to undergo the donation. The procedure to extract the stem cells from the donor is called apheresis, and hers was performed at a blood center in Dallas. She added that DKMS arranged for all travel and paid her expenses. Leads were attached to both of her arms. One line removed fluid from her that was sent to a device that spun the stem cells out, and the
other line returned the remaining fluids to her body. She likened the procedure to a blood donation, only there were leads in both arms and it took somewhat longer. After the donation, she was awarded her roll of Lifesavers, because now she is one. She called the whole process from the very beginning “seamless.” The donation was made on a Monday; she felt a bit tired the next day but reported feeling “great” by Wednesday. “It’s a remarkable day,” added Haddox. “But the procedure is unremarkable.” Privacy regulations allow Wetzel only limited information about the recipient of her stem cells. She knows they went to a female patient with a blood cancer in the United Kingdom. She and the patient are able to communicate anonymously through DKMS for two years. After the two years are up, they may communicate directly or even meet in person if both wish to. Wetzel hopes for a meeting. “I like to think part of me is living in the UK,” she said. Bone marrow and stem cells are used to treat blood cancers such continued on Page 3