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Doreen Flynn is desperate to save her three daughter’s lives and is taking on the federal government to do so.
The Maine single mom knows that in order for Jordan, 13, and twins Jorja and Julia, 7, to overcome their rare blood disorder -- Fanconi anemia –- they will need viable bone marrow donors to come forward and help, a procedure that, under law, they cannot be paid for, MSNBC's Rock Center reports. But Flynn is determined to change that law so that potential donors could be compensated and more likely to get involved.
“Bone marrow is just like anything else in the world... it’s valuable,” Jeff Rowes, Flynn’s lawyer, told the news outlet. “And if you compensate people for it, you’re going to get more of it, it’s just that simple.”
While the medical field has long held that bone marrow donors should voluntarily offer up their services out of the kindness of their hearts, Flynn told MSNBC that that such do-gooders deserve to be paid, if it could potentially save lives.
Her case is also hinging on the fact that the National Organ Transplant Act shouldn’t account for bone marrow. The 1984 act made it illegal to buy and sell organ and organ parts, but Rowes told MSNBC that because bone marrow regenerates within a matter of weeks, it shouldn’t fall under the same category as a liver or kidney.
While the determined mother got some hopeful news in May when she learned that Jordan had found a bone marrow match, Flynn says she’s still maintaining her fight for her two other daughters and the 16,000 other patients searching for a match.
Feeling inspired? Learn how you can become a bone marrow donor through Be The Match here.
Dr. Nancy Snyderman's full report, "A Mother's Fight," airs Thursday, June 14 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.