Southern Fall/Winter 2022

Viktoria Solfronk ’22 joined the Be The Match blood marrow
donation registry through an Instagram ad in 2018 — an
on-the-whim decision she did not think too much about,
knowing that only 1 in 320 people are contacted for a donation.
“Most people think that a family member would be an easy way to
get a donor,” she says, “but only 25 percent of patients have a family
member who is a close enough genetic match to donate.”
After receiving a call in June 2021 that she was a potential
match, Solfronk had bone marrow surgery in August 2021,
donating 1.2-1.5 liters of blood from the back of her pelvic bone.
She decided to document her experience so she could inform
more people about the process.
“I thought that if I put out the information that I knew and my
feelings in real time, I could encourage new young people to join,”
Solfronk says. “I decided to post my journey on my Instagram story.
I gave some background about Be the Match and then documented
my doctor’s appointments, flights, time touring the city, surgery date,
and how I was feeling after surgery.”
Be The Match covered the costs of Solfronk’s travel to the
selected city and hospital and provided food stipends during the trip.
While some donations do have a non-surgical option, her surgery was
the more intensive option. Solfronk spent one night in the hospital
and had soreness in her back but felt normal after a few weeks.
The donation process was completely anonymous — Solfronk
only knew the recipient’s age, gender, and disease or health concern
associated with the donation. The recipient could be anywhere from
the United States.
Viktoria Solfronk (middle, back row)
“So many people I talked to were surprised that I was willing to do
this, to go through lab testing, flights and surgery all for a stranger,” she
says. “But being a donor has really highlighted how connected we all
are with each other. The person I donated to had a disease that would
kill them if they did not have a donor, but with my donation they are
almost certainly cured for life.”
Solfronk encourages others to join the Be The Match registry, an
easy process that requires basic medical information and completing
a swab kit. It could be years before a registered individual is contacted
about a match, but the larger the registry, the better the matches are
for people in need of a donation.
“There are so many disparities within the donor-recipient
populations,” Solfronk says. “You have to have certain matching
genetic markers, and sometimes minority recipients have to wait for
longer periods of time to get a donor because there are not as many
donors of color within the system.”
She admits the process can seem scary, but Solfronk says
donating is one of the most rewarding things she has done and will
ever do.
“Being a part of a group of people who decided to put themselves
out there to help others that they do not know has been so rewarding,”
she says. “During COVID, it sometimes feels like we are all trying to
protect ourselves and our families, but the people at Be the Match and
the donors all work to protect others around them.”
Learn more about Be The Match at bethematch.org.
ONNECTION
24 / ’southern