Woman awaiting transplant encourages others to donate
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Jacquie Hirsch stands with her brother TJ, who has supported her during her battle with acute lymphocytic leukemia. She is expected to receive a bone marrow transplant in a month or two.

To speak with Jacquie Hirsch one might not know that she has been battling cancer since September, an ordeal that curtailed the active 22-year-old college student's goals.

With bright eyes and a smile, Hirsch said this week that she has been having a good month.

Hirsch, who was at home with her parents and brother in Clarence Center, has been battling acute lymphocytic leukemia, and in the next few months her fight will take her to New York City to undergo a bone marrow transplant.

"I'll probably go the end of February, early March. Right now I am at the donor's mercy," she said, adding that once the donor has completed the blood work and paperwork then her procedure can begin.

It's considered uncommon for someone's Hirsch's age to be diagnosed with ALL, her father, Torey Hirsch, said. Usually the disease is found in young children.

When the symptoms started to appear, Hirsch thought it was a cold but she kept getting sicker. She was student teaching at a school in Rochester while completing her education at Geneseo State College.

Then on Sept. 28, 2007, she woke up feeling sick, and her vision was blurry. She visited the college health center, thinking she might have had a problem with her contacts and was then referred to an eye specialist.

It wasn't her contacts. The specialist knew something was wrong. Hirsch was sent to the hospital for blood work, where she learned her white blood cells had reached a level 20 times higher than normal. Such a rapid cell increase only meant one thing: cancer.

Hirsch was immediately rushed home and admitted directly to Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Treatment had to begin immediately. She received chemotherapy for ALL and was put on the national registry to find a match for a bone marrow transplant.

She said coping with the shock of the news was hard.

"It came so sudden ... the symptoms added up after, but it was hard dealing with the diagnosis," Hirsch said, adding that she had to learn quickly how to deal with it, because the chemo treatments started immediately.

Her family and other supporters held a benefit in November to raise funds but also to raise awareness about bone marrow testing. At the benefit, all 150 test kits were used, and 50 other people had tests sent to themselves. At the school where Hirsch had been student teaching, 50 people were tested, and the University at Buffalo is planning a testing drive on Valentine's Day in Hirsch's honor.

Torey estimated that the push will bring the total close to 1,000 potential donors. The test is simple - four cotton swabs from the inside of the cheek, and a survey on one's health history.

But word came through recently that a donor was found, a 22-year-old female. That is the only information Hirsch will know. She won't know if the donor came from Buffalo as the matches are all anonymous.

She said one of her friend's brothers who was tested at the benefit received a call that he was a match for someone awaiting a donor.

"I told him he has to go through with it; what if this was me?" she said. "It's hard to be at the mercy of someone you can't contact, to explain what this would mean to you."

Hirsch said after explaining the recipients' point of view, the man agreed to move forward with the process.

As for Hirsch, she is waiting for the donor to move the process forward. She will then go to New York City, where she will spend one to two months in the hospital after the transplant and then another month or more living in the city to continue treatment. The benchmark timeframe has been about 100 days, she said.

"I'm taking things one day at a time. Right now I am doing good," she said.

Information on receiving a donor kit and the The Jacquie Hirsch For "A.L.L" Foundation is available at http://buffalogymcenter. com/ Jacquie. php.

Hirsch is a graduate of Williamsville North High School where she was a diver for the swim team. She was also a gymnast. Her family owns The Greater Buffalo Gymnastics Center, located in Getzville.