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By MARY BETH SMETZER, Staff Writer
Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Published: March 16, 2006
Fresh from what she described as a "magical week" along
the Iditarod Trail, not as a musher but as an observer, Susan Butcher
was in high spirits Wednesday morning.
"I met many old, dear friends," Butcher told the crowd
at Tanana Chiefs Conference's annual convention. "I felt their
love and strength. I haven't felt this vital in three months."
Early in December, Butcher was diagnosed with acute myelogenous
leukemia and learned she would need a bone-marrow transplant. Since
then, she has become a spokesperson and symbol around the state
to build up Alaska's participation in the National Bone Marrow
Registry--especially among Native Alaskans.
In late December, Alaskans rallied and more than 1,000 registered
in Fairbanks and Anchorage to help Butcher and another Alaskan,
Michael Donaldson, in their quest to find a matching marrow donor.
"If you don't have a donor, you don't have hope," Butcher
said.
Butcher counts herself fortunate. A bone marrow donor match has
been found and she will begin a new regimen of tests in Seattle,
beginning April 6, in preparation for the marrow transplant, which
will take place May 16. She will be hospitalized for another 100
days afterward.
If all goes as scheduled, Butcher will be allowed to return home
in September, but she is forbidden to have any contact with dogs
for a full year.
"That will be the hardest thing for me," she
said.
Among Butcher's priorities as she faces her next round of medical
treatment is to bring not only awareness for the need to enlarge
the bone marrow donor registry, especially among minorities, but
making the blood typing procedure more easily available in communities
statewide.
Butcher said she was concerned when she learned that Alaska Natives
were the least represented on the donor list among Native Americans.
"One of the reasons I moved to Alaska was to get to know
Native people," Butcher said. "A lot of my best friends
are from the villages."
Butcher would like to see the simple blood typing procedure become
part of the culture like it is in Europe. She said Martin Buser,
born in Switzerland, was the only musher who had been typed previously.
"Now all mushers are typed," Butcher
said.
Jean Krupa, Blood Bank of Alaska community coordinator, was pleased
with the response of convention goers who are registering and donating
blood at the convention this week.
"We have a goal of 1,000 new minority registrants," Krupa
said.
Nationwide, 75 percent of bone marrow registrants are Caucasian,
25 percent minorities, and Alaska Natives account for less than
1.3 percent, Krupa said.
"Not everyone with cancer needs a bone marrow transplant,
but if they do, they need bone marrow that is very genetically
linked," she said.
Only 25 percent of people needing bone marrow transplants will
find a match among family members.
One big misconception, Krupa said, is that people of mixed ancestry
think they wouldn't be a good match for anyone.
"But truly they're the Native Americans
we're looking for ... People with diverse backgrounds are going
to help people with
diverse backgrounds."
We gave a presentation on 3/14 with three living testimonies
from two Alaskan Natives and Dave Monson. Susan Butcher gave a
second presentation on 3/15. The TCC conference attendees appreciated
the education and many made time to donate blood as well as take
the opportunity to get onto the registry.
We had 54 people present to donate blood and collected 24 good
units. We potentially added 53 people to the bone marrow registry.
******
Before Butcher closed her remarks, she showed off her bald head,
hairless as a result of chemotherapy, saying she didn't have to
go to Hawaii for a tan, but exposed it on a recent, beautiful day
on the Iditarod Trail.
"After 40 years of braiding and taking care of my hair, I
think this is the best hairdo I've ever had," she said.
Butcher wasn't the only one in the gathering with a bare pate.
Buddy Brown, TCC president who is stepping down two years short
of his second three-year term to concentrate on healing, wore a
baseball cap to cover his shaved head. And community activist Shirley
Demientieff, sans hair, and also undergoing chemotherapy, listened
attentively to Butcher's talk.
"It's not surprising that she wanted to come around here," Demientieff
said. "When you're sick and part of the Native community,
you always go around other people to get your strength back."
Butcher, a four-time winner of the 1,100 mile sled dog race, traversed
the race route 17 times as a competitor, stopping in the mid-1990s
to raise a family with her husband, musher Dave Monson. They have
two daughters, Tekla, 10 and Chisana, 5.
Four years ago, Butcher's plans to resume mushing were put on
hold when she became sick with a blood disorder, which eventually
led to the December diagnosis.
Butcher said her Seattle hospital room walls are papered with
pictures of Alaska and Native art.
"I try to take as much of Alaska into that room. That's where
I get my strength," she said.
Mary Beth Smetzer can be reached at msmetzer@newsminer.com or
459-7546.
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