Erin (Higgins) Joyce `97 stood in front of a map of the US in a hallway of the Be The Match Collection Center in Seattle. She leaned in and added her pin to the colorful dozens already marking cities all across the country. Each one represented a bone marrow donation, “and a person waiting at the other end.”Joyce is part of a big family – numerous Prep alums – who have always had hearts for public service and generosity. In the eight years since the cheek swab, she’d nearly forgotten she was part of the registry. Until that is, a voicemail and text message out of the blue last summer informed her she was a preliminary match for a leukemia patient in need of a marrow donation. Her response was a resounding “YES!”
The process from that phone call to donation was a lesson in patience, generosity, and “letting God be God” with the hope—but not the promise—of saving a life. The registry arranged for the initial blood draws while she was on vacation in Texas—it couldn’t wait. For some, the matching process can take up to two months. Joyce braced herself to expect that, yet she heard back in just 16 days. That launched several blood draws and physicals to monitor her health and determine that her cells were a close enough match. “Somewhere in the United States, there is a person that genetically I am so similar to that my cells can replace his cells and allow him to live. It’s crazy.”
The kicker? She won’t know for a year, and may never get to know who received her marrow, which proved to be the match from thousands on the bone marrow donor registry.
She insists she isn’t a hero, but the staff at the collection center will say otherwise. Erin’s journey to donating her marrow—and the potential to save the life of a leukemia patient awaiting a transplant–began with a cheek swab eight years ago. A 2015 Cancer Can’t fundraiser for friends offered the chance to join the bone marrow registry. “It didn't occur to me at the time that it was something big. I thought, ‘I can help, of course I would help.’” The process played out with unknowns and questions. She found some answers and plenty of support thanks to Facebook group for donors. She drew even more support from the Prep community. Joyce, in her second full year as a school counselor at Prep after 14 years at Mountainside Middle School, drew support from a faculty and staff retreat in the fall.
She was able to work through some of the emotions and unknowns with colleagues. “I am a bit of a type-A person: Things have a place, things have a purpose, I have a plan and that's how it gets done and all of this is happening in a space outside of that.” She began to shift the way she experiences God in her life from one of not just comfort, but as one who guides. She was struggling with the desire for control, wanting the transplant to be successful, and the fear that it wouldn't. “This didn’t have anything to do with my plan, it’s just happening and I’m along for the ride.”Five days before the donation, Joyce began receiving injections to stimulate stem cell overproduction. Her bloodstream was flooded with excess stem cells. It was uncomfortable at times, but not unbearable, she said. "It was a strange pain." Joyce donated her marrow on November 8, while a cousin from Portland kept her company. The 5-hour donation itself was flawless from start to finish. They watched the first season of Ted Lasso, and ate an “amazing” lunch, all while she was connected to the apheresis machine that collected her blood, spun out the stem cells, and returned the rest. Joyce insists it was not painful.
Six months after the donation she may receive a brief status update—namely—whether the recipient is still alive. One year out from the donation, she and the recipient will have the opportunity to connect if he chooses. “The experience for me has been challenging and beautiful at the same time. I have learned to let go and let it be.”
Erin Joyce `97 is a school counselor at Gonzaga Prep. Before that, she worked as a school counselor at Mountainside Middle School for 14 years. She lives in Spokane with her husband, Ben and their three children.
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