Posted on 07/20/2006 4:39:35 PM PDT by SandRat
NEW YORK (July 18, 2006) -- Laura Landro has the Marines in her blood, literally.
Landro was told by her doctors that she had developed leukemia and had little more than two years to live.
The cancer specialists told her that only one thing could save her life. If she could defy the odds, find a suitable match with another person’s genetic composition, and receive a bone marrow transplant, she would live.
The odds were slim and time was not on her side.
"Leukemia is a formidable cancer,” said Landro from her office at the Wall Street Journal in N.Y. “Thankfully it can be beat. In any health crisis the key to over coming it is to keep your spirits up and will to live strong.”
“When they told me the diagnosis, I was about to be married, 37 years old and working a job I loved,” said Landro,”It struck like a thief in the night. My world was turned upside down.”
Enter the Marines. Or in this case, one Marine: Lt. Col. Christopher Landro.
Lt. Col. Landro is Laura Landro’s youngest brother and he is currently deployed as the Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment on combat operations near Fallujah, Iraq.
Like blood types, the donor’s type had to match the patient’s type perfectly. Otherwise, the body rejects the transplant and the patient dies.
The doctors had to move quickly.
Laura Landro called her brother with the news. Would he be tested to see if his genetic type was a match? Even among family members, there is only a 1 in 4 chance any sibling will match.
“I’ll be there. Tell me where and when,” said Lt. Col. Landro at the time. The Landro’s come from a close-knit family with a strong background of military service.
Their father Sylvester was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, and all four of the Landro uncles served during the wars. In addition to Lt. Col. Landro’s service in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, his brother Arthur is a recently retired Air Force Reserve officer.
The Landro boys had been raised on a steady diet of Navy sea stories and watching old war films like “The Sands of Iwo Jima” and “The Great Escape” with their father in the basement of their Fair Lawn, N.J. home.
“My brothers sparred over who would get to do the transplant. Ultimately, the Marines won,” said Laura Landro.
Landro searched high and low for specialists to treat her. She found one on the other side of the country in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest, where the moose population outnumber people in the region two to one and the weather can be characterized as rain followed by rain.
The Landro’s traveled to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in the state of Washington, one of the leading leukemia treatment facilities.
After several arduous hours of surgery, Lt. Col. Landro had marrow removed for his sister. Barely out of recovery himself, he was at his sister’s bedside as she received the transplant and hope for life.
Several anxious and uncertain weeks passed as doctors monitored her. Would the body attack or accept the transplant? Fortunately, Laura Landro’s body accepted the transplant and she recovered.
“He’s definitely my hero,” said Landro of her brother.
But that was not the end of the story.
Landro recovered completely, returned to a full and busy life and years passed. Then in 2003, her leukemia began to return. Another transfusion was required.
Her brother, Lt. Col. Landro had been mobilized from his civilian job as a logistician and operations manager with Home Depot to active duty in support of the war on terror. He got the call for an emergency transfusion, received compassionate leave, and went through a four-hour procedure to donate new cells and save his sister.
The procedure worked and for nearly three years Landro has been fit and healthy.
In appreciation for being given the gift of life, Landro and and her husband, Richard E. Salomon make a donation each year to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, a private group that gives college scholarships to the children of enlisted Marines.
On April 25, 2006, in New York City, Landro was honored for her generosity by the 33rd Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael W. Hagee at an awards ceremony.
Everyday in combat Marines, soldiers and sailors unselfishly save lives because they are there. Lt. Col. Landro saw such an opportunity, not once, but twice, and did what was necessary.
“Being a donor is the easiest way to save another person’s life. It’s a heroic thing to do. It’s a gift,” offered Laura Landro.
* Marines or sailors interested in more information on becoming a donor, units wishing to hold a donor drive, or those wishing to register as potential donor can read more at:
http://www.dodmarrow.com/Pages/faq/faq.html
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. - Ms. Laura Landro and her brother Lt. Col. Christopher Landro, USMCR enjoying a pool party on Long Island, N.Y. during the summer 2004. Lt. Col. Landro's two daughters Megan and Madeline are pictured in the foreground.Two times the heroe!!!
Semper Fi.
He's a Marine. Is anyone surprised?
Point well taken.
It's a nice story, but it's obvious this writer has never been to Seattle. You'd think that Seattle was north of Fairbanks the way this writer dissembles. There is a small moose population in the other side of Washington at the corner near the border with Idaho and Canada. A couple of million people live within an hours drive the Hutchison Cancer Center. Sheesh.
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