Photo By Kelly Morris | Warrant Officer Stephan Zeller, a flight school student, conducts a briefing to a...... read more read more
Warrant Officer Stephan A. Zeller, a flight school student and former enlisted air traffic controller, recently volunteered to help conduct a record-breaking military bone marrow drive at Fort Bliss, Texas, Aug. 5-16.
While waiting to begin the advanced track in the CH-47 Chinook helicopter at Fort Novosel, Zeller put his experience conducting registry drives, including when he was previously stationed in Korea, to good use by helping to save lives.
During the two-week event, more than 4,000 Soldiers registered in the Department of Defense’s bone marrow donor program “Salute to Life,” in what is considered the largest bone marrow drive in Army history.
Zeller said it was an “incredible amount that exceeded our initial target of 3,000,” referring to a group of Soldiers who volunteer to lead a call-to-action campaign known as “Operation Ring the Bell.”
The campaign name honors a custom that marks when a patient is cancer free. It began as a hobby for founder Spc. Christian Sutton, a satellite communication system operator/maintainer assigned to 1st Armored Division, who unfortunately lost his mother to Hodgkins’s lymphoma when he was only four years old.
Sutton said he volunteered to conduct bone marrow registry drives through the Department of Defense’s Salute to Life marrow donor program. Sutton has turned his hobby into an Army-wide campaign, with his division allowing him to lead the effort as his fulltime job since January of this year.
“Eventually I identified a huge gap and potential for impact in the Army. I started looking to make them a more permanent and widespread part of the Army's service. My division has allowed me to lead this effort as my full-time duty since January of this year,” said Sutton, who conducted his first registry drive in March of 2022.
Sutton, who has become known as the “bone marrow guy,” said while the Army typically registers approximately 1,000 people per year, Operation Ring the Bell has registered more than 14,000 Soldiers in just over two years.
“The goal is to make bone marrow registration a normal part of the Army's contributions to the country, and make the Army the largest contributor to the national database in the country,” Sutton said.
Sutton looks to increase the chances for cancer patients and immunocompromised children to find their perfect donor match, as well as to see the Army become more ready and resilient, better able to treat Soldiers overseas who may be exposed to nuclear, chemical and radiological attacks, by enabling the service to rapidly locate a donor and treat injuries, Sutton explained.
“I want the hope they feel when they find that match and get another chance at life to become synonymous with the feeling of safety Americans feel due to the military’s protection and service. I want soldiers in uniform to protect and save the lives of Americans right here within our borders,” Sutton said.
Earlier this year, retired U.S. Air Force Chief Master Sergeant Chad C. Balance, senior recruiter for the DOD Bone Marrow Program, lauded Sutton as critical to the mission of increasing people in the donor data base.
“It is inspiring to see a young private first class become a specialist and lead other young enlisted troops to step up to find that cause, to find that purpose and to help our program,” said Ballance. “We have 500 DOD families every year diagnosed with fatal blood cancers and 18,000 Americans are diagnosed with fatal blood cancers every year and his campaign to help the DOD marrow program cannot be understated.”
“Once a Soldier understands how simple this program is and realizes the minimal impact it would have on their body, compared to the life-saving impact they could have on someone else, they recognize that we can all make a difference. And it all starts with just two swabs.” Ballance said at the Fort Bliss event.
Zeller, Sutton and others conduct registry drives throughout the year. In the first week of the recent Fort Bliss drive, Zeller said he was responsible for Soldiers in the hospital as well as the mobile team that had to drive to different battalions to brief them during their formations.
With workdays that ran from 4:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., Zeller also handled scheduling and communicating with battalion command teams.
“Through running the hospital and giving briefs, I can account for over 800 of the total registrants,” he said.
Zeller said it was his experiences while working as a civilian EMT that opened his eyes to the need.
“Patients who had no one hit me hard,” Zeller said. “The fact that over 18,000 patients are in need of a stem cell donor due to illnesses like leukemia, lymphoma, other types of cancer, or sickle cell anemia makes me think about that. By registering others, I can assist them in finding the match they require.”
Zeller described one case where a military family is “racing against time” to find a match for their child, who sadly has been diagnosed with leukemia. Cases like theirs fuel his passion to help.
“I want no one else to experience what they are going through right now—that is, attempting to move heaven and earth while rushing against time to find their daughter a match,” he said.
Zeller explained a common misconception is that the drives intend mainly to collect bone marrow.
“All that is required of those who are interested is that they register, provide a mouth swab, and fill out contact information in case they are a genetic match to someone on the registry,” he said.
He also wants the public to know about the donation process.
“A common misperception is that giving stem cells requires drilling through your bones, but in the modern era, the procedure is nearly identical to that of giving plasma,” Zeller said.
Zeller said the event was the most successful in the history of the DOD, and he hopes to see more emphasis in the future.
“The Army could easily tenfold the numbers by implementing this effort itself, serving the nation and promoting mission readiness,” Zeller said.
| Date Taken: | 09.03.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.03.2024 09:01 |
| Story ID: | 479314 |
| Location: | FORT NOVOSEL, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 46 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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