Marrow Transplant Went Well, Family Says -- Air Force Academy Cadet Gets Donation From Korean

A bone-marrow transplant for a Korean-born Air Force Academy cadet went without complications, his relieved family and physician said in Seattle yesterday.

Within 10 days to three weeks, doctors expect to learn whether Brian Bauman's body has accepted the donor marrow.

Bauman's chronic myelogenous leukemia was diagnosed last fall. The disease, which destroys the body's ability to produce infection-fighting white blood cells, can be fought with a marrow transplant from a matching donor. But finding a compatible donor was complicated by Bauman's Korean heritage and the limited number of potential registered donors in Korea. Bauman, 22, was adopted when he was 3, and grew up in Pine City, Minn.

At yesterday's news conference at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Seattle, the donor was identified only as a Korean male in his early- to mid-20s who lives in South Korea.

"Brian has found his future," said his sister, Becky Metz, who joined her father and mother, Steve and Elaine Bauman, and Dr. William Schubach, chief of the hospital's oncology section, in discussing the procedure.

"I always knew we would find a donor," she said. "At this point, I feel this was the most important day of my life."

Describing how she felt when she was shown the bone marrow that would be transplanted to her brother's body, Metz said: "It's just bone marrow, but it recreated Brian's life. I love Brian very much. He's my brother. I just sat and cried."

Steve Bauman said his son "never lost hope," but explained that the chances of finding a matching donor seemed "very slim" when the search began because of the the small number of possible Korean donors.

His father recalled that his son seemed his usual confident self throughout the seven-hour procedure, however. "I think what he said was, `This is going good, isn't it?' " recalled Steve Bauman.

Brian Bauman's search for a matching donor was publicized worldwide, and the participants in yesterday's news conference said one of the greatest benefits from the news-media coverage could be increased registration of people willing to be bone-marrow suppliers.

Bauman will be a patient at the VA hospital for about four weeks. He was expected to have lived only about five years if a donor hadn't been found.

Bauman was unable to graduate with his Air Force Academy class this spring because of his illness. His place at the academy is being held so he can finish his degree after he recovers.

Information from Associated Press included in this report.