Bone marrow transplant Merrill man’s big hope

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MERRILL – When Brooks Skinner was a student at Southern Aroostook Community School in Dyer Brook, he was a member of the school’s wrestling team.

Today, at age 24, he is wrestling with a different opponent, one that could take his life

In 1993 when he was 16 years old, Skinner was diagnosed with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH, a disease of the bone marrow that causes the rapid and excessive destruction of red blood cells.

The disease causes anemia, increases the chances of blood clots and infections, and further decreases the ability of the bone marrow to produce new red blood cells.

On Saturday, more than 350 people turned out at the Oakfield Community Center for a bone marrow drive that could help Skinner.

A successful marrow transplant is his last hope for life.

“They started showing up at 9 o’clock this morning,” said an amazed Candy Roy, Skinner’s mother-in-law, who worked for a year to get the drive to come to Oakfield. The drive began at 10 a.m.

More than 200 blood samples were taken before collection supplies ran out. Another 112 people signed up to come back for another drive in three or four weeks. About 50 people were unable to donate because of existing medical problems.

Pat Morrarty of Patten was there. Her son had attended Head Start with Skinner and she had been Skinner’s baby sitter.

“Anything I can do for him, I will do because he’s a very special person,” she said, shortly after her blood sample was taken. “He’s good-hearted, and if I can help, I’m going to.”

Travis Libby of Merrill has known Skinner since junior high. They played ball together.

“I wanted to help him,” he said.

Skinner remains cautiously optimistic. Family members offer the best chance for a successful marrow transplant, but there have been no matches. The chances of a successful match from the general public are much slimmer.

“I don’t mope about it,” Skinner said a week ago at his home. “I think there’s other people with worse problems than me.”

Skinner said that when he was younger he had a wild streak. He liked to drink. He liked to party. He liked to drive his car fast.

“That’s over now,” he said with a grin.

Now it’s shots, pain medications, blood thinners and lots of trips to the hospital.

“I take enough pills to drop a camel,” he said.

His biggest regret is that he is unable to work. If he exerts himself too much, he ends up in the hospital.

He tried working in the woods and in a potato house moving 10-pound bags of potatoes.

“After the second bag, I was right on my knees,” he recalled. ” I couldn’t take any exertion.”

Now he spends his days watching TV, visiting with family and friends, sleeping – some days it’s hard even to get up – and going hunting and fishing with his wife, Misty, and their dogs Jude and Abby, named for Beatles connections.

When he was first diagnosed eight years ago, Skinner said, people with PNH were given about a 10-year life expectancy.

That has been extended now to 15 years.

But within that time, his health will continue to deteriorate. He has lost 30 pounds, has liver and kidney problems, his spleen is enlarged, and he has headaches. His skin is a yellowish-green because he is jaundiced.

“I’m getting progressively worse,” he said. “They’re thinking it’s almost time for me to have a major episode – a stroke or bone marrow failure.”

A month ago he had a blood clot in his brain which caused him to go blind for two weeks.

“It was scary,” said Skinner. “I thought I was going to be permanently blind.”

A successful bone marrow transplant could change that.

Paul Greenier, who directs the National Marrow Donor Program in Maine, said the marrow drives are relatively simple and do not involve big needles or pain.

A small sample of blood is taken and sent to a lab for testing after which a donor’s name is kept in the national registry. Should a match be found the donor is contacted about continuing the process.

Greenier said more than 4.2 million people are listed in the national registry, including 17,000 in Maine.

Skinner hopes that somewhere in the collections taken Saturday a match will be found for him.

“It’s either take my chances to be dead or retarded or paralyzed or take my chances with a bone marrow transplant,” said Skinner. “I’d rather try to get totally fixed than have to ride around in a wheelchair or be comatose.”