Health Watch: Waiting for a Donor

ATLANTA - Becoming a parent for the first time can be a daunting task. For Heather and Jonathan Cape of Athens, the new baby jitters have been overshadowed by a darker drama in their lives. Heather Cape is battling cancer and needs a bone marrow transplant to survive long-term. Cape was just three or four weeks pregnant when a blood test came back abnormal.

When it comes to easygoing babies, Heather and Jonathan Cape said they feel like they hit the jackpot with 5-month-old Evelyn Rose.

"Everybody says she's just the happiest baby they've ever seen," said Heather Cape.

Parenthood for the Athens couple has been bittersweet.

"Life isn't normal anymore. Our life is completely changed," Cape said.

Cape has spent weeks 75 miles away from her Athens home in Atlanta at Emory University Hospital. The new mother is undergoing treatment for Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, or ALL.

"I'm still a normal mom in the sense of feeding her and playing with her and taking care of her," said Cape. "But then its like, I have to fill my pill box, and we have to go to the doctor and get my blood checked, and I'm really tired."

Cape was just four weeks pregnant when her first checkup showed she had an abnormally high white blood cell count. Cape was diagnosed with cancer of the blood-forming cells.

"The fear of the unknown was the hardest part of it all," said Cape's husband, Jonathan.

The Athens mother was able to delay cancer treatment until Evelyn was born healthy in July.

Two months later, the new mother's bones started to ache.

"Little did we know it was the cancer progressing, and tearing apart her body," said Jonathan Cape.

Doctor Jean Khoury, Chief of Hematology at Winship Cancer Institute, is Heather Cape's doctor and she said she now needs a bone marrow transplant to survive long-term.

Doctors will wipe out Cape's sick immune system with chemotherapy and radiation and then rebuild it with stem cells from a healthy donor.

"We are both eradicating any residual leukemia that the chemotherapy did not eradicate, and we are replacing, a new immune system that hopefully will recognize any residual leukemia cells and go after these cells and destroy it," said Dr. Khoury.

First, the Athens woman has to find a donor. Because no one in her family is a good match, Cape's doctors are searching for an unrelated donor on The National Marrow Donor Registry.

Stacy Toney of the Georgia Chapter of The Be the Match Foundation says it takes just a few minutes and a few swabs of your cheek to sign up.

"Most people are surprised to find out just how simple it is. It's just a swab of your cheek. And basically just filling out some quick paperwork, once we make sure it's safe for you and you understand what you're signing up for," said Toney.

Heather Cape said she is hoping a donor will come through soon by spring. Until then, she's holding tight to Evelyn, and hope.

"To be able to live a long happy life with my husband and child. I mean, indescribable," Cape said.

The National Marrow Donor Registry is constantly looking for new potential donors. Minority donors, especially African Americans, are desperately needed.

To find a “Be The Match” bone marrow donor drive in your area, go to www.bethematch.org or call the local Georgia office at 404-377-4430.

Heather Cape has been blogging about her experience with both cancer and motherhood. You can read her blog at www.heatherwarrencape.blogspot.com .