by CPT Ronald Bailey, Colorado National Guard
“The only gift is a portion of thyself,” wrote the famous American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. For Colorado Army National Guard SSG Atosha McGregor, her gift was truly a portion of herself, in the form of a bone marrow donation.
“Considering that marrow donation could potentially save someone’s life, it was one of the easiest things I have ever done,” she said. “I am surprised that more people don’t do it and encourage others to take the initiative. There are no out-of-pocket expenses, and you could save someone’s life.”
SSG McGregor, a training noncommissioned officer for Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Joint Force Headquarters, began her donation journey six years ago when a senior NCO in her section, who suffered from a form of leukemia, hosted a Salute to Life bone marrow donation event.
There, SSG McGregor and other Soldiers took a simple, painless swab test, which helps determine whether potential donors are a match for someone in need of a transplant, and added their information to the registry.
SSG McGregor said that at the time, she knew little about the entire process and her chances of becoming a match.
Six years later, SSG McGregor received a call from Salute to Life telling her a potential match had been found. For privacy reasons, the program told SSG McGregor that she might never know the full identity of the recipient. She only received basic demographic information such as age, sex and the type of disease the person had.
SSG McGregor immediately started to learn more about the disease and made a quick trip to Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colo., for a blood draw to ensure her match was close enough for a donation.
About a month later, she received the call. She was a match. She gave an unequivocal yes to proceed with the procedure.
“My fiancé was very supportive of my decision,” said SSG McGregor. “Support from spouses, Family and friends is key to the process.”
Now back to work after donating her bone marrow, SSG McGregor said she is a big advocate for the marrow donation program. She said getting involved is as easy as registering on the salutetolife.org website and swabbing your mouth with the kit that’s mailed to a potential donor.
She remembers something one of the nurses told her during the process. The nurse said that as a bone marrow match, there was a good chance SSG McGregor was related, albeit very remotely, to the recipient.
“It is a kind of genetic reconnection,” said SSG McGregor. “We were always connected by similar DNA; now, we are much more directly connected as a portion of me is now a part of them.”
