Sailor makes long journey to help cancer-stricken child

Air Traffic Controller Airman Apprentice Adam Minkel works at his desk in the Amphibious Air Traffic Control Center (AATCC) aboard the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship USS Essex (LHD 2). Essex' air-traffic controllers monitor all air traffic within a 220-mile radius from within AATCC. Essex is the lead ship of the only forward-deployed U.S. Expeditionary Strike Group and serves as the flagship for CTF 76, the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force commander. Task Force 76 is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with a detachment in Sasebo, Japan.
(U.S. Navy photo by Greg Johnson)

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Air Traffic Controller Airman Apprentice Adam Minkel departed Essex Friday for Washington D.C. Minkel was headed to Georgetown University Hospital, where a 4-year-old boy suffering from erythrophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare form of leukemia, is desperately waiting for a bone marrow transplant. Thanks to the C.W. Bill Young DoD National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and an extraordinary sacrifice by Minkel, the boy will have a chance to fight the disease.

"It's really a great program," said Minkel. "Anything that gives people a chance to have this kind of a positive impact on someone's life is important."

Capt. Brent Canady, of Shelbyville, commands the Essex.

According to the program's website,www.dodmarrow.org, any service member between the ages of 18 and 60 is eligible to volunteer. Doctors determine participants' tissue type through blood or cheek cell samples and then register their information into the NMDP database. From there, marrow transplant teams throughout the world can find it.

"The biggest problem facing people who need bone marrow transplants is that there is not a large registry," said Lt. Tom Hayes, Essex' general medical officer. "The DoD is one of the largest registries and the benefits are that we can connect with a lot of people in many different areas."

DoD may be one of the largest registries, but many DoD participants face extraordinary circumstances when called upon to donate, especially those who serve as forward-deployed Sailors. Rigorous deployment schedules and long hours already take a toll on personnel, and most forward-deployed donors are located thousands of miles from the recipient.

"It was pretty difficult for them to reach me," said Minkel. "They tried my home phone back in the states and my family had to try to reach me through e-mail here on the ship."

Upon making contact with registered donors, the program gives them the option to decline. While many people might have second thoughts at that stage in the process, Minkel never thought twice, a decision that didn't surprise his co-workers one bit.

"It's not surprising at all," said Air Traffic Controller Second Class (AW) Scott Morgan. "It's just the kind of person he is."

Sailors throughout Minkel's division expressed the same sentiment. Chief Air Traffic Controller (AW) Rodney Love, Essex' Amphibious Air Traffic Control Center leading chief petty officer, said Minkel possesses qualities that you don't see in many young Sailors these days.

"I'm very impressed with his decision to donate bone marrow," he said. "That kind of selflessness isn't something that you see every day and to have someone like that in my shop is very impressive to me."

Another challenge facing forward-deployed donors is getting back to the U.S. When the program contacted Minkel, Essex was in the midst of the ship's spring patrol, sailing off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. Luckily, the program pays for all transportation, including his airfare back to the United States from Japan.

Once he arrives at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington D. C., Minkel will undergo a series of bone marrow extractions from his pelvis. Marrow will be repeatedly extracted with a large needle until there is enough to perform the transplant, which typically requires three to six punctures, said Hayes.

Minkel said he's more than willing to go through some hardship because someone's life is on the line.

"This disease is always fatal if untreated and a bone marrow transplant is the only hope for a cure," he said.

For Minkel, one fateful decision he made years ago may have the ultimate impact on someone else's life.

"I registered for the program when I went through boot camp and I really haven't even thought about it in a long time," said Minkel. "I honestly never thought I would be called on. It's a really great feeling to know that I could save this boy's life...this is someone's child."

But Minkel was called on, and just like the 400,000-plus service members who have gone before him since the program's inception in 1983, he'll travel far out of his way and subject himself to potential discomfort, fatigue and pain in the hopes of giving the gift of life.

According to Minkel, the program does not disclose the names of the recipients to the donors until approximately one year after the transplant, and only if the transplant was successful.

More information about the C.W. Bill Young DoD National Marrow Donor Program can be found at www.dodmarrow.org or by calling (800) MARROW-3.

Essex is the lead ship of the only forward-deployed U.S. Expeditionary Strike Group and serves as the flagship for CTF 76, the Navy's forward-deployed amphibious force commander. Task Force 76 is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with a detachment in Sasebo, Japan.