7-year-old Fisher girl finally gets to see bone marrow donor
By DEBRA PRESSEY
CHAMPAIGN – For more than a year, 7-year-old Katy Hubbell of Fisher has had a great big hug saved up for Ernie Pickell, the bone marrow donor who saved her life.
On Saturday, she finally got to deliver it.
"I love Ernie," Katy said with a shy smile, cuddling a gift from Pickell, a teddy bear she has named "Believe" after the word stitched to its shirt.
Katy was diagnosed in 1997 with a life-threatening bone marrow failure disease called aplastic anemia. Her successful transplant procedure was done at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston in May 1999.
The Hubbells were anxious to thank the donor, Pickell, a 40-year-old airline manager from Alexandria, Va., but rules of the National Marrow Donor Program prohibited them from making contact until a year after the procedure had passed, Katy's mother, Mary Hubbell, said.
For the past year, Pickell and Katy have been writing to each other, and also getting acquainted by phone and e-mail. They finally were able to arrange an in-person visit for this past weekend, with their first meeting in Urbana's Crystal Lake Park taped by NBC's "Today" show, to be aired sometime this month, Mary Hubbell said.
Katy, who will be turning 8 later this month and entering the second grade in the fall, has become pretty much a healthy kid, her mother says. Despite some complications after the marrow transplant surgery, she is now considered cured of her disease. "It was very difficult, but the payoff was wonderful," Mary Hubbell adds.
Pickell, who oversees central administration for flight attendants with U.S. Airways, said he first registered as a potential bone marrow donor about eight years ago when a co-worker's daughter was diagnosed with leukemia.
He was already a blood donor, he said, and willingly became involved in the National Marrow Donor Program as well. "I've been raised that you help people in need," he said. "You look for ways to give back."
The Hubbells turned to the National Marrow Donor Program when neither of Katy's siblings proved to be a close enough match to be her donor. Pickell was contacted, and underwent further testing before it was determined he would be Katy's donor. Pickell said he and his wife, Bridget Donohue, don't have any children, so it's been very especially rewarding for him to have helped a child. He encourages others to get involved in the donor program, and said there is a special need for minority donors.
"I think a lot of people have misconceptions that there's pain involved, but it's not that painful," he said. Pickell said the actual procedure took very little of his time, and left him feeling only a bit sore afterward. The marrow was extracted with a long needle while Pickell was under general anesthesia, and he went home from the hospital later the same day.
During their weekend with the Hubbells, Pickell and his wife were to attend Katy's dance recital in Champaign on Saturday night, and on Sunday were given a special reception hosted by friends of the Hubbells.
Pickell and the Hubbells say they plan to keep in touch. "It's a lifelong thing," Pickell said.
Published Online June 11, 2001
Copyright 2001 The News-Gazette
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