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Family to host drive in search of marrow donors

Last year, 30-year-old middle school teacher Johna Kozak found herself in a three-year marriage with a 1-year-old son and a new diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia. Saturday her family is organizing a drive to find potential bone marrow donors to add to a national registry.

By MARK ANDERSEN / Lincoln Journal Star

Karen Stott didnt understand how her middle sister could get so caught up in watching Survivor. Its just a bunch of mind games, Stott said in bewilderment. Thats what I love, Johna Kozak replied.

Today, survival isnt a game to either of them.

Those who love Johna have scheduled a bone marrow registration drive Saturday morning in Lincoln, hoping to find that one person with the right stuff to save Johnas life.

Johna lives in Columbus but graduated from Lincoln High School in 1993 and from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1997. Last year she was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia.

Blood cancer.

Chemotherapy knocked it down, but it came back in June, and Johna needs a bone marrow transplant.

Her two sisters arent a match, which isnt uncommon. The test for marrow is far more specific than the one needed to donate blood.

As Stott describes the marrow registration drive, theres a tone of desperation in her voice, a desire to do something.

We want to share her story and recruit as many people as possible to be tested, she said. I never realized the importance of the registry until it hit close to home.

If the drive doesnt turn up a match for Johna, maybe they can help somebody else. I would love to get a phone call that I would be able to help somebody, she said.

But her real hope is to save her sister. Obviously, she needs a bone marrow transplant in order to save her life I hate to say that because then it seems so real.

Saturdays drive is sponsored by the National Marrow Donor Program.

With 5.5 million potential donors registered, roughly one in five who need a transplant will find a potential match, about double the success rate of 15 years ago. Not all who find a potential match will necessarily make it to a transplant.

The greater the number of people in the registry, said Paulette Dellovechic, who directs registration for the Lincoln region, the greater the chance to find a match for patients like Johna.

Johnas name comes from her grandfather John. Her middle name, Jaye, is from her other grandfather. Their mother thought she was going to be a boy, Stott said.

That would be Johna. Shes always the one to keep you on your toes.

A night owl, Johna usually can be found talking to nurses in the halls late at night. She likes to play tricks on them.

Late last winter, she had her sisters dress as cancer patients and climb in bed with her so the nurse on the night shift wouldnt know which was the real patient.

As the middle child, (Johna) always seemed to me to be so fearless, Stott said. She always seemed to know what she wanted out of life.

Thats what makes it so hard. We know shes scared, but people show it in different ways.

Reach Mark Andersen at 473-7238 or [email protected].

How to help

The bone marrow registration drive will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Kuck Motorsports, 2251 Humphrey Ave.

The cost is $25 per person; the fee is tax deductible.

The test involves a swab of cheek cells. To register, people must be between 18 and 60 and in good health.

For details, visit www.johnasjourney.com or call 770-3346.

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