Kick-Off to Bike Ride for Life:

Maine Cancer Survivor Meets Marrow Donor

Renelle Pollard met her life-saving marrow donor Darlene Jordan for the first time at the kick-off event for the Five Points of Life bike ride.

Renelle teaches first graders in the morning and coaches high school cheerleaders in the afternoon in her hometown of North Monmouth, Maine. Darlene takes care of the elderly all the way across the country in Arvada, Colorado. Two marvelously caring women who share more than a passion for helping others: In April 1995 Darlene Jordan donated the marrow that Renelle Paulard needed to live.

On August 26, five years after Renelle received her marrow transplant, Darlene and Renelle met for the first time. The emotional meeting took place at the opening ceremonies of the Five Points of Life bike ride held in Salisbury Cove, Maine.

It was seven years ago that Renelle Paulard, who was 27 and married just two years, went to the doctor because of persistent bruising on her legs. She was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia, a cancer of the bone marrow.

Given her options, Renelle first looked to her two sisters for marrow, but neither was a match. Her second option was to search the National Marrow Donor Program's® (NMDP) Registry of unrelated potential volunteer marrow donors. At the time, the NMDP was a young organization and only about 1 million volunteers had joined the Registry. A match was not found.

Not long after, and all the way across the country, Darlene joined the NMDP's Registry through the Colorado Marrow Donor Program, an official NMDP donor center. Not only was Darlene a perfect match for Renelle, she was the only match.

During an emotional ceremony, Renelle's father Paul Greenier, who is also the President of the Maine Leukemia Foundation (an official NMDP recruitment group) introduced Renelle to Darlene. With their family there to support them, and a room full of Five Points of Life riders, sponsors, organizers and partners, the two ladies embraced.

Because of the selflessness and the commitment of a total stranger, today Renelle is five years post-transplant and has received a clean bill of health.

August 27 - October 14:
Five Points of Life Bike Ride

This 50-day ride is to raise awareness of the need for life-saving donations of the five points: blood, apheresis, marrow and blood stem cells, cord blood, and organ & tissue. A group of 10 nonprofessional cyclists from across the United States, each with a personal connection to one or more of the five points, is riding from Bar Harbor, Maine, to Key West, Florida to share their messages.

Giving Patients a Second Chance at Life:
The National Marrow Donor Program Today

Today, the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) has facilitated more than 10,000 unrelated transplants. With over 4 million potential volunteer donors on the Registry, patients are given a second chance at life almost every day through the selflessness of millions of potential volunteer donors and the steadfast work the of NMDP and it's 350 national and international affiliates.

Each year an estimated 30,000 children and adults are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, 5,000 with chronic myelogenous leukemia, for which a marrow or blood stem cell transplant can be a cure. Unfortunately nearly 70% of these patients will not find a suitable donor in their family.

It is for those 70% that the NMDP works tirelessly to give hope to the hopeless. The NMDP facilitated its first marrow transplant in 1987 and today facilitates the transplantation of marrow and blood stem cells, from unrelated volunteer donors, for more than 120 patients each month.