In 2016, Rogers student Julia Downes dedicated her senior project to her cousin, Jamie Crowley, the former principal at Thompson Middle School, beloved community member, husband, and father of four, who was battling leukemia. Along with two classmates, Julia worked with Be the Match, now the National Marrow Donor Program, to give her fellow students the opportunity to get a cheek swab and join the national donor registry. Her best friend, Aliyah Jones, joined her in the effort.
Five years later, Jones, the granddaughter of O’Brien’s Pub co-owner George and Regina Jones, received an email asking her to recommit to the registry. “Aspen, a little girl in my neighborhood, had recently been diagnosed with leukemia, and her family was encouraging everyone to sign up in hopes of finding a donor,” Jones said. “So, without a doubt, I absolutely said yes and renewed my commitment. I am so happy that I did.”
In March 2023, almost seven years after first joining her best friend for a great cause, Jones was contacted by the organization as a potential stem cell donor for a young girl in San Diego, California, suffering from a rare form of blood cancer. At first, Jones thought the text message she received was spam. But when her mother was contacted by the same number a few days later, it became clear that it was real. With little information about what came next, Jones, a special education teacher in Fall River who is also working on a second master’s degree in education, didn’t hesitate. “I quickly called them back and said I would love to move forward.”
The process involved lengthy health questionnaires, which Jones described as negligible, taking only “half an hour out of my day,” and several in-person appointments to determine if she was healthy enough to be a donor. The process took several months, and by mid-summer of last year, she was informed by medical personnel that she was nearly a perfect match.
On the designated donation day in September 2023, at the Rhode Island Blood Center in Providence, Jones underwent a seven-hour procedure. IVs were inserted in both arms, and blood was removed from one arm, passed through a machine to separate out the stem cells, and then returned to her other arm. “It was a bit tough because I’m antsy and don’t like needles or blood, but it was just one day of my life,” she said. “I ended up sitting longer than I needed to and donated enough stem cells for her to receive another transplant if needed.”
Jones emphasized that the side effects and risks to a stem cell donor are minimal. There are injections for several days to build up white blood cell counts, some arm soreness, bruising, and fatigue, but overall, she said, “It was really nothing.”
Her family has been nothing but supportive and proud, she added, thankful that she was healthy enough to offer this life-saving chance to a teenager she’d never met. Her mom was with her on the day of the donation, “feeding me pretzels and wiping my nose.”
The protocol for donations of this nature requires the patient receiving the donation to reach certain milestones over a period of one year before an exchange of contact information can take place. Recipient Desiray, who has Down Syndrome, has surpassed those milestones and is currently cancer-free. Jones and Desiray mother recently met via Zoom, and the two families have begun to bond and form a friendship.
“And Desiray now has my DNA!” Jones told Newport Buzz. “If her skin were to be tested, it would match her parents, but she now carries my DNA. She’s allergic to the things I’m allergic to, her eye color has changed to match mine, and as her hair grows back, it will be similar to mine as well.”
Though Jones’ remarkable donation wasn’t a match for Jamie Crowley, who sadly passed away in 2018 and is sorely missed by all who knew him, she says that after speaking with his family, they all agreed that because of him, and the determination of his young cousin and her friend, a life was saved.
“It’s so crazy that just a simple cheek swab led to all this,” she said humbly.
For more information on how to register to become a donor, visit NMDP.org.
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