Bone Marrow Donation (ATC medical)

boondr

boondr

Penalty Vectorer
Doc,

I am an FAA controller with a current medical, my aunt was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and is being told she may need a bone marrow transplant. I am being told nephews and nieces are often the best matches I want to find out if other than recovery time this would affect my medical status negatively before the cost of testing are incurred.


Thank you for your time.
 
I was in the bone marrow registry a few years back. I don't know how it would affect your medical but I can assume some implications. You will get some medications before the transplant that increase your production of marrow/stem cells. These may be classed as experimental. The donation process is pretty severe. A large bore needle is stuck into your hip bone. They said it would take a couple of weeks to a month to recover from this. I fractured my coccyx and bruised my sacrum pretty bad (broke my ass) in 2003 and I still get pain from it so I would think that your job at the screen would be very uncomfortable for a while.
 
grnclvrs said:
I was in the bone marrow registry a few years back. I don't know how it would affect your medical but I can assume some implications. You will get some medications before the transplant that increase your production of marrow/stem cells. These may be classed as experimental. The donation process is pretty severe. A large bore needle is stuck into your hip bone. They said it would take a couple of weeks to a month to recover from this. I fractured my coccyx and bruised my sacrum pretty bad (broke my ass) in 2003 and I still get pain from it so I would think that your job at the screen would be very uncomfortable for a while.
Click to expand...

Uncomfortable I can deal with, unemployed might be a little tougher. I just want to know what I am getting into before I find out that by some miracle I am the only match my aunt has. That will be a tough decision.
 
boondr said:
Uncomfortable I can deal with, unemployed might be a little tougher. I just want to know what I am getting into before I find out that by some miracle I am the only match my aunt has. That will be a tough decision.
Click to expand...
Don't let her hear you say that. With that being said... I understand.
 
Assuming you are in Eastern Region, here is the contact information:


Harriet Lester, M.D., Regional Flight Surgeon
Federal Aviation Administration
Aerospace Medicine Division, AEA-300

Building & Mailing Address:
1 Aviation Plaza, Room 247
Jamaica, NY 11434-4809

Street Address:
159-30 Rockaway Boulevard, Room 247
Jamaica, NY 11434-4809

Phone: (718) 553-3300
Fax: (718) 977-6705
 
subpilot said:
Don't let her hear you say that. With that being said... I understand.
Click to expand...

I know it sounds harsh but to be honest without knowing I will never be able to make any decisions without regrets. Honestly I would love to think I would be able to sacrifice for my family, but to me getting the pre-test done is making the decision because I could never say no once I knew I was compatible and she needed it.


I have called the regional flight surgeon and will have an answer by tomorrow. I will post it here for future searches should anyone else god forbid need the answer in the future.
 
Well I got a good answer from Virtual Flight Surgeons through their NATCA provided free question answering service. I posted the question to them about 1 hour ago and got a phone call just few minutes ago. Pretty quick service.

Other than the short time required for surgical recovery and being downed for the pain meds it should have no affect! Which is fine with me I have plenty of sick leave.

I am going to wait for an answer from the regional flight surgeon for confirmation but from what I hear VFS is usually spot on with their advice as they deal primarily with special cases for pilots and controllers on aviation medical issues.
 
I think for many cases they can get what they need via a blood transfusion - atleast that is what I heard.
 
Forgot to update this: FAA Eastern Regional Flight Surgeon gave the ok for the Bone Marrow Donation via either method(transfusion or actual marrow donation) including the medications given pre-procedure to stimulate production of cells.

Once again this is reference an ATC medical clearance which is basically equivalent to a 2nd Class. Doc might be able to elaborate on whether the difference between an ATC and a 1st warrant further research with the FAA med people.


if you find this thread via a search you can PM me and I will tell you who to speak with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top