Engineer Bruce Mau Earns Gratitude of Bone Marrow Recipient

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (3/2/98) -- Donating bone marrow can result in a touching letter from a distant but grateful recipient. Ask Bruce Mau, a senior project engineer in the Launch Programs Division.

Mau participated in the company's first bone marrow drive in June 1996. The drive was held to locate a donor for former employee Dennis Crawford, who lost his fight against leukemia last July.

The name of each employee who participated in the drive was entered in the National Bone Marrow Registry, which lists potential donors.

Given Mau's Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese and Norwegian ancestry, he thought the chances that his genetic makeup might match that of a patient awaiting a transplant were slim.

Last July, however, the City of Hope in Los Angeles informed Mau he had been identified as a possible donor. Additional screening showed Mau's DNA was suitably close to that of a 47-year-old man born in Canton, China, who came to the United States to study biochemistry.

"The surgical procedure takes one to two hours," said Mau. "I woke up very stiff and sore; I had three tiny puncture wounds on my hip and was stiff for about a week. Two weeks later, I was hitting golf balls."

A letter written by the transplant recipient--whose identity was not disclosed as a matter of policy--and forwarded to Mau from a City of Hope coordinator says, "No matter what, we will never forget you for your generosity toward a stranger."