Isa Zweiback
Peripheral Stem Cell Donor through Be The Match Foundation
As a sophomore in college this past spring, Isa Zweiback did something truly inspiring: she donated peripheral stem cells through the Be The Match organization in the midst of a global pandemic.
Be The Match matches donors with people who have different types of cancers. There are certain kinds of cancers that can be cured through these matches. Being a match is not related to blood type, but rather ten other tissue and DNA markers (perfect match = all ten markers matched, but matches can vary on the scale -- the closer to 10, the better). Although a lot of the time family members will match, compatibility also doesn’t have to do with genetics or relationships. Isa is not related to the girl she matched with, in fact, they’ve never met and don't know a lot about each other. To learn more about Be The Match, visit their website: https://bethematch.org/.
Isa put herself on the donor registry as a senior in high school when Be The Match came to her school and brought swab kits. It is extremely rare to be a match, so Isa just thought, why not sign up?
Isa found out she was possibly a match around January 2020, when she received a phone call and email. Isa was told that the likelihood wasn’t very high for them to match, and that perhaps other people were contacted as well. Isa was asked if she would be interested in continuing the process. She was excited at the possibility but wasn’t sure whether it would happen. Ultimately, she agreed.
Isa received another phone call the next week explaining that she was the match, a phone call uncommon to receive so quickly after the first call. The situation seemed dire, and Isa was connected to the coordinator between her and the patient. The coordinator told Isa about the two different possible donations, one being a bone marrow transplant and the other being a peripheral stem cell donation. Isa was told that she would be giving the latter.
Isa became nervous about the procedure once Covid-19 hit. She asked about the different implications, as there are many risks for both her and the patient suffering from leukemia. Be The Match was not too concerned; they informed Isa that it was a low-risk operation, which was comforting to her. She was sent home from college shortly after, due to the pandemic, and made the donation following her return home.
Over the five days before the donation date, the hospital team ran Isa’s labs and gave her injections. Once the labs came back clear, a home nurse gave Isa injections of the drug Neupogen for the following days, in order to boost Isa’s body’s stem cell count. Isa had side effects from the injections, including lower back pain (stem cells originate inside the bones) and nausea. Isa was nervous because of the coronavirus, but was reassured after one particularly painful night, because things got a bit better.
The donation itself was performed in a cancer hospital where no Covid-19 patients were being treated due to the vulnerability of the hospital’s patients. Isa was assigned a hospital bed, where nurses took her vitals and connected her through a giant needle to a machine that draws blood whole. Her blood then circulated through the machine, and it separated into bone marrow, plasma, and regular stripped blood. The nurses circulated 18 liters of blood, stripping it of the stem cells and giving Isa back the blood without the nutrients. Isa was closely monitored the whole time, once given an injection of calcium because her fingers were tingling. The donation took six hours, and Isa was in the hospital for eight. The donation itself was luckily almost painless and went smoothly. The next day, Isa was tired and depleted. By about a week after the donation, she felt back to normal.
Isa selflessly donated peripheral stem cells -- inspiring on its own -- but even more so because it was when a virus was spreading throughout the world, and many people would never have considered doing this out of the health risk.
A touching moment from the waiting room:
While in the waiting room, Isa spoke with a man seated beside her. He asked what she was there for, probably assuming she was receiving a treatment, as these donations don’t happen very frequently. When she told him what she was doing, he teared up, as he had cancer and was at the hospital to receive some sort of treatment. He asked her questions about herself and why she was doing the donation, a question she’s received a lot. Her response was that she matched and was healthy, so she had no reason not to, but also because she knew that she had the opportunity to possibly save someone’s life.
The patient’s letter:
Because of HIPAA laws, Isa and the patient aren’t allowed to directly contact each other until nine months after the donation. They were allowed to contact each other anonymously through the coordinator, however. Recently, the coordinator emailed Isa with a letter from the recipient of the donation. In the letter, the patient thanked Isa for the gift she gave her, as well as some information about herself. Isa was ecstatic to hear from her -- she responded with information about herself and her reasons for wanting to give the donation.
Who inspires Isa:
Her best friend Audrey: Audrey had cancer when the two were in eighth and ninth grade. Audrey was a big inspiration to Isa especially through Isa’s whole process of the donation. They became connected in a new way, and Audrey gave Isa advice throughout the donation process.
Her parents: Isa’s dad’s mission as a rabbi is to help people and to heal through spirituality. Her mom works for stem cell research in California. Both of her parents have always been involved in trying to make the world a better place and taking steps in their own lives to do so.
Isa’s father, Yoshi Zweiback, has a podcast with one episode featuring Isa. To hear Isa talk about her experience firsthand, listen on https://www.wisela.org/searchformeaning/ and scroll to the bottom to see this podcast and more.
To donate to this cause, visit: https://www.bethematchfoundation.org/site/Donation2?17497.donation=form1&df_id=17497&mfc_pref=T!
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Written by Emily AlbertFirst photograph taken by Emily Albert; all other photographs courtesy of Isa Zweiback