'We're family now...'
Lead Summary
By
Brandy Chandler-brandychandler@gmail.com
Graduation season celebrates the accomplishments, hopes and dreams of loved ones going through commencement. For a Hillsboro woman, it is a milestone for two families to celebrate the life of a young girl who came so close to having her future taken from her all too soon...
In 1996, Hillsboro resident Kristy Greer donated her bone marrow to a child she was matched to in the national bone marrow donation registry. Fifteen years later, that child celebrated as a now-healthy graduate from high school.
In the early 1990s, Greer said that she participated in a donor drive to see if she was a match for a coworker. Greer, who was an X-ray technician at Highland District Hospital for 30 years, said that when filling out the release form to be tested, the last question, at the bottom of the page, asked if she wanted to be registered in the national database for bone marrow donors.
“I thought about it for just a second and then checked the box,” Greer said. “I wasn’t a match for her, but then years later, in 1996, I was contacted that I was a possible match for a 3 1/2-year-old child and asked if I wanted to proceed with further testing.”
She consented to the testing, and subsequently found that out of the six “traits” that determine compatibility, she matched all six traits.
Greer then underwent a procedure at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati that removed seven large syringes of bone marrow from her lower back. While the procedure can be painful for some, Greer said that she didn’t have any pain or even stitches.
“When they had the last one, the nurse said, ‘Do you want to tell this goodbye before it’s flown out of here?’ “So, I knew it was going to somebody who wasn’t from this area,” Greer said.
Information between the donor and the recipient is kept confidential for one year, “for obvious reason” according to Greer.
During that year, Greer said she often thought about the child she’d donated her bone marrow to, what had happened, and if the procedure had been a success.
“You just wonder if they’re all right,” Greer said.
After a year had passed, the contact information was released to both families, and Greer said she contemplated if she should reach out to them or not.
“I didn’t know what I should do. Should I call? Should I wait for them to call?”
Then one day, the recipient family reached out to her.
Greer’s bone marrow had gone to a little girl named Kelsey Loo who lived in California, and the operation had been a success.
“Stacy, Kelsey’s mom, called us a perfect match,” Greer said.
“She had leukemia and she had been diagnosed about a year and a half before the operation. Their entire family had been tested and no one was a match, so they went to the donor database, and there were no matches. There were some family members who matched five of the six traits, but they weren’t compatible. So they tried the national program one more time, and by that time, I was listed.”
Kelsey had been very sick, and the operation for her to receive Greer’s bone marrow had to be postponed because she was too sick for surgery.
Greer has three grandchildren under the age of 4, and she said that when she looks at them she will sometimes think, “Kelsey was this age when she was going through that. Forget about all the toys you can buy them, you’re so lucky they are healthy.”
She hopes that anyone who is able to be tested to donate would consider it, because she said she can’t imagine having a child who is sick and being unable to find a match.
In 1999, Greer’s husband, Highland County Common Pleas Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Kevin Greer, planned a vacation to the San Diego area of California.
When their plane touched down, as a surprise, Kelsey and her family were waiting at the gate.
“It was awesome,” Greer said, tearing up. “I don’t even know how to describe it. I just don’t have the words for it ... We’re family now.”
A television news crew documented the meeting and did a story on Kelsey and her struggle. The footage shows Greer realizing who she is looking at, and she’s unable to speak and begins crying. She gets on her knees to hug the little girl.
Six-year-old Kelsey tells the camera, “She’s my hero.”
Greer said she doesn’t think of herself as a hero, rather, she hopes she would do what anyone would do if they have an opportunity to help.
“Who wouldn’t want to help a sick child?”
The experience, she said, has been made all the more rewarding by the fact that the sick little girl with an uncertain future has grown and flourished into a healthy and accomplished young woman.
“She is a cheerleader and on the dance team, and she volunteers a lot,” Greer said. “She is a counselor at a camp for children with cancer. She attended it since she was 7, and she has been a counselor now for three years. She is very active and she wants to give back. She is majoring in animal science and wants to one day work at a zoo or aquarium.”
Kelsey had a Hawaiian-themed graduation party – a nod to her family’s heritage – and Greer was welcomed among friends and family.
“Stacy (Kelsey’s mother) and I are a lot alike,” Greer said. “We just really clicked. At the party we both were trying not to cry. When she started high school, I said, ‘I will be there when she graduates.’ It is a milestone in her life. I didn’t set out on this course, but this is where life has led me. It’s wonderful to see. She’s got dreams. She’s got a future. Stacy said to me, ‘15 years ago, we didn’t know if we would have this day.’
“It is wonderful to see who she has become,” Greer said. “I told her, now we’ve had your high school graduation, next is college graduation, and then, your wedding.”[[In-content Ad]]
In 1996, Hillsboro resident Kristy Greer donated her bone marrow to a child she was matched to in the national bone marrow donation registry. Fifteen years later, that child celebrated as a now-healthy graduate from high school.
In the early 1990s, Greer said that she participated in a donor drive to see if she was a match for a coworker. Greer, who was an X-ray technician at Highland District Hospital for 30 years, said that when filling out the release form to be tested, the last question, at the bottom of the page, asked if she wanted to be registered in the national database for bone marrow donors.
“I thought about it for just a second and then checked the box,” Greer said. “I wasn’t a match for her, but then years later, in 1996, I was contacted that I was a possible match for a 3 1/2-year-old child and asked if I wanted to proceed with further testing.”
She consented to the testing, and subsequently found that out of the six “traits” that determine compatibility, she matched all six traits.
Greer then underwent a procedure at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati that removed seven large syringes of bone marrow from her lower back. While the procedure can be painful for some, Greer said that she didn’t have any pain or even stitches.
“When they had the last one, the nurse said, ‘Do you want to tell this goodbye before it’s flown out of here?’ “So, I knew it was going to somebody who wasn’t from this area,” Greer said.
Information between the donor and the recipient is kept confidential for one year, “for obvious reason” according to Greer.
During that year, Greer said she often thought about the child she’d donated her bone marrow to, what had happened, and if the procedure had been a success.
“You just wonder if they’re all right,” Greer said.
After a year had passed, the contact information was released to both families, and Greer said she contemplated if she should reach out to them or not.
“I didn’t know what I should do. Should I call? Should I wait for them to call?”
Then one day, the recipient family reached out to her.
Greer’s bone marrow had gone to a little girl named Kelsey Loo who lived in California, and the operation had been a success.
“Stacy, Kelsey’s mom, called us a perfect match,” Greer said.
“She had leukemia and she had been diagnosed about a year and a half before the operation. Their entire family had been tested and no one was a match, so they went to the donor database, and there were no matches. There were some family members who matched five of the six traits, but they weren’t compatible. So they tried the national program one more time, and by that time, I was listed.”
Kelsey had been very sick, and the operation for her to receive Greer’s bone marrow had to be postponed because she was too sick for surgery.
Greer has three grandchildren under the age of 4, and she said that when she looks at them she will sometimes think, “Kelsey was this age when she was going through that. Forget about all the toys you can buy them, you’re so lucky they are healthy.”
She hopes that anyone who is able to be tested to donate would consider it, because she said she can’t imagine having a child who is sick and being unable to find a match.
In 1999, Greer’s husband, Highland County Common Pleas Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Kevin Greer, planned a vacation to the San Diego area of California.
When their plane touched down, as a surprise, Kelsey and her family were waiting at the gate.
“It was awesome,” Greer said, tearing up. “I don’t even know how to describe it. I just don’t have the words for it ... We’re family now.”
A television news crew documented the meeting and did a story on Kelsey and her struggle. The footage shows Greer realizing who she is looking at, and she’s unable to speak and begins crying. She gets on her knees to hug the little girl.
Six-year-old Kelsey tells the camera, “She’s my hero.”
Greer said she doesn’t think of herself as a hero, rather, she hopes she would do what anyone would do if they have an opportunity to help.
“Who wouldn’t want to help a sick child?”
The experience, she said, has been made all the more rewarding by the fact that the sick little girl with an uncertain future has grown and flourished into a healthy and accomplished young woman.
“She is a cheerleader and on the dance team, and she volunteers a lot,” Greer said. “She is a counselor at a camp for children with cancer. She attended it since she was 7, and she has been a counselor now for three years. She is very active and she wants to give back. She is majoring in animal science and wants to one day work at a zoo or aquarium.”
Kelsey had a Hawaiian-themed graduation party – a nod to her family’s heritage – and Greer was welcomed among friends and family.
“Stacy (Kelsey’s mother) and I are a lot alike,” Greer said. “We just really clicked. At the party we both were trying not to cry. When she started high school, I said, ‘I will be there when she graduates.’ It is a milestone in her life. I didn’t set out on this course, but this is where life has led me. It’s wonderful to see. She’s got dreams. She’s got a future. Stacy said to me, ‘15 years ago, we didn’t know if we would have this day.’
“It is wonderful to see who she has become,” Greer said. “I told her, now we’ve had your high school graduation, next is college graduation, and then, your wedding.”[[In-content Ad]]