Update

Woman inspires marrow donors Hundreds have offered to help cancer patient By Patricia Jiayi Ho, Staff writer

Claire Hulsey

Though Claire Hulsey, 32, has been confined to a hospital room for the past month, her story has in-spired many to take action. Since being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer on April 1, Hulsey had been shuttling between her home in Visalia and the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto for treatment. She is back home after the latest round of chemotherapy -- her sixth -- to recover and spend time with her 6-year-old son, Michael. "It's been a huge eye-opener for me," said Hulsey, who worked as a respiratory therapist. "I was so surprised at how many people have done things for me. People I don't even know have organized blood drives. It's like a little tiny pillow landed on a lake and this huge wave has come out." Hulsey has Burkitt's lymphoma, a disease that afflicts about 200 people in the United States each year, according to Mark Lee, an oncologist at Stanford. It occurs when certain white blood cells mutate and multiply out of control, crippling the immune system's ability to fight infection and disease. "Burkitt's lymphoma is one of the fastest and most aggressive cancers, period," Lee said. "Patients can go from being well to extremely ill within weeks." In Hulsey's case, she first discovered a lump in her neck that was growing quickly. Though it responded to chemo-therapy, the cancer soon came back in her abdomen. Currently, Hulsey is in a wait-and-see period. If the latest round of chemotherapy is successful, she will need a matching bone-marrow donor for a bone-marrow transplant. In the meantime, family, friends and total strangers have rallied around her. Hulsey's friends, previous co-workers from Visalia YMCA and a few strangers organized blood drives. "A woman had a blood drive at her work [in Fresno]," Hulsey said. "They didn't even know me. It's been crazy." Since June 1 at the Central California Blood Centers alone, over 140 people have donated blood and almost 40 have signed up for the bone marrow registry in Hulsey's name. "We have had hundreds and hundreds of calls wanting to donate because of her story," said Chris Sorensen, director of community relations and development. A friend who worked with Hulsey in the early 1990s at a YMCA youth camp, Cristina Mendonsa-Garaventa, started a forum on her Web site for Hulsey. "The goal was to get the word out, get people to register and to give people a venue to send well wishes to Claire," Mendonsa-Garaventa said. Hulsey's brother, Matt Dick, said her wish is that, even if it doesn't work for her, people will register to donate marrow. "It could do something for someone else," he said. The forum also became a respite for Hulsey. In a topic titled "Laughter Is The Best Medicine," members have posted their memories of the YMCA camps, which recount events such as yodeling parties and the Big Hair Night. "I know this sounds weird because I have cancer, and I'm in the hospital, but it's been really fun," Hulsey said, adding that she enjoys reading the stories on her forum. "My faith is restored in the community," she said. Email this story Originally published Friday, July 30, 2004Getting involved Local donor centers: i 1515 S. Mooney Blvd., Visalia, 625-3121 i 93 N. Main St., Suite D, Porterville, 781-5532 To give blood, donors must be at least 17 years old, weigh 110 pounds and be in general good health. There is no fee. To be put on the blood marrow registry, donors must be between 18 and 60 years old and in general good health. The fee depends on funding available and can range from free to $65. This service is only available at the Visalia and Fresno offices. Information For more information, call the Central California Blood Center at 224-2900 or visit www.cencalblood.org. For information on the national marrow donor pro- gram, visit www.marrow .org.