Giving until it hurts

Eric Vrem is ready to undergo procedure to save stranger

Friday, July 18, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by GARY SMITH Eric Vrem takes a break from volunteering recently with the Greater Waldorf Jaycees’ bingo program which the club offers for adult day services participants at the Charles County Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in La Plata. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

When the Waldorf resident was in the U.S. Navy he was asked to do a simple cheek swab that would enter him into the National Bone Marrow Registry.

A few weeks ago, 12 years after he was entered into the registry, Vrem received a package stating that he was a preliminary match for a patient. Further blood tests have determined that he is a definite match.

Vrem, 32, was informed that if he chose to go through with the procedure, he would be giving a peripheral blood stem cell donation. Blood-forming cells that can be donated directly from bone marrow are also found in the peripheral or circulating blood, according to the National Bone Marrow Registry Web site, www.marrow.org.

Also according to the Web site, in order to collect enough blood-forming cells for transplantation into a patient, more of the cells need to be moved from the bone marrow and into the bloodstream. This is done by injecting the donor, Vrem in this case, five times prior to the day of the donation with a drug called Filgrastim.

On the day of the procedure, Vrem will have needles in both of his arms through which blood will be removed from his veins. The blood that is removed will then pass through a tube into a blood cell separator machine where it is spun at a high rate in order to separate the cells. Through the arm that blood is not being drawn from, plasma and red blood cells will be returned to Vrem’s body while blood-forming cells, platelets and some white blood cells are collected for the patient.

The use of Filgrastim does carry with it some common side effects for the donor such as headaches, bone or muscle pain and nausea, and some less common side effects such as skin rashes, rapid heart rate, dizziness and allergic reactions, according to the Web site.

But Vrem said the sacrifice is worth it.

‘‘What goes around comes around,” he said. If ever there is a need, he is hopeful that someone would be willing to do this for him, his family or his friends.

On Wednesday, Vrem will sit in a chair for four to six hours as blood is taken from him, processed and then returned to his body, but he isn’t having any second thoughts. His wife, Tatiana, admitted she can’t stand the thought of needles, saying to her husband, ‘‘I can’t do what you do,” referring to the many blood donations he has given.

As a member of the Greater Waldorf Jaycees, a nonprofit organization that focuses on giving back to the community, she more than makes up for her fear of needles by planning and participating in events such as Project Graduation, nursing home bingo, a senior picnic held at the center and helping the Salisbury Jaycees with the Delmarva Chicken Festival to help them raise money for projects to benefit their community.

She said she was not even aware that her husband was on the national registry to be a potential donor until the day they found out he was a preliminary match. The news came as something of a surprise, but not after she considered all he has done for others and his deep love for life, saying she doesn’t know anyone who lives life to the fullest as much as Eric does.

He serves as the president of the Greater Waldorf Jaycees. His resume’ includes working on the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, serving as a firefighter in Chicago, as a paramedic in Montgomery County, as an emergency medical technician and participating in active combat in Kosovo while in the military.

In addition to his responsibilities as the president of the Jaycees, the Vrems are Baldus Real Estate agents; he is on the board of directors of the Charles County Chamber of Commerce and also works four days a week as a cardio-invasive specialist at Inova Fairfax Hospital.

And Vrem always makes time for babies in need. With O-negative blood and a high platelet count, he is an ideal donor for babies who need of blood transfusions and has donated whenever he is asked.

The Jaycees organization plans to do its part to combat the unfortunate reality that some people never find a donor by reintroducing a bone marrow drive in conjunction with the many blood drives the group already holds.

According to Catherine Claeys, a spokeswoman for the National Marrow Donor Program, every day more than 6,000 patients need a donor and, ‘‘a transplant can be their best hope for a cure.” When people donate with NMDP they are, ‘‘really giving patients hope for a second chance at life.”

Regardless of the many blood tests, a physical which will ensure that Vrem is healthy enough to donate, the time commitment, possible side effects and discomfort, the fact that he may never meet the recipient due to confidentiality issues and the actual process of completing his donation, Vrem is only worried about being able to return to his duties as the president of the Jaycees.

He plans to work a function at the Jaycees center next Friday, two days after the procedure.

The event is a 1920s-themed murder mystery which, in proper Jaycees fashion, was developed to raise money for cancer research.

Vrem said the reward for his donation is the satisfaction of knowing he helped someone else. But he is looking forward to enjoying a piece of cheesecake during the donation process.