Precious Cargo
Marsha Williams ’81 crisscrosses the globe transporting hope in the form of bone marrow and stem cells.
Everyone was anxious for the plane to land. But Marsha Williams ’81 needed it to. Someone’s life could depend on it.
The plane had been circling—along with more than 20 others—over its destination airport for more than an hour to allow severe thunderstorms to pass. But once the runways reopened, Williams’ pilot announced that the line to land was now too long for the amount of fuel left on the plane; it would be diverting to another airport. Williams would miss her connecting flight.
She could not miss that connecting flight.
Acting quickly, Williams handed a flight attendant the ace up her sleeve—a letter that read: “Marsha Williams is a trained courier carrying human cells for transplantation. It is imperative that the blood stem cells be transplanted without delay.”
Within minutes, the pilot made a new announcement: The flight would not be rerouted after all; the plane would be landing shortly.
Every year, thousands of people are diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. For some patients, the best treatment is a blood stem cell transplant from a healthy donor whose DNA proteins and markers match theirs. NMDP (formerly Be The Match/National Marrow Donor Program) manages the world’s most diverse registry to help patients find their match.
The field has come a long way since the organization facilitated its first bone marrow transplant in 1987. Before then, most donors and patients were related. However, 70% of patients don’t have a fully matched donor in their family. Through NMDP’s blood stem cell donor registry, unrelated donors and patients can be matched across state lines and even international borders.
To ensure those potentially life-saving and delicate blood stem cells securely reach their intended recipient in time, they are hand-carried—sometimes thousands of miles—by volunteer medical couriers like Williams.