School of Medicine employee seeks match for bone marrow transplant

Brian “BJ” Jimmie, an information resources manager for the School of Medicine Alumni Affairs team, is searching for a bone marrow transplant match after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in July of 2022. 

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) starts in the bone marrow and often it quickly moves into the blood. AML accounts for only about 1% of all cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. Jimmie is in need of a bone marrow transplant.  

Though his care team has searched the bone marrow transplant registry to look for a donor, no suitable match has been located. Jimmie will continue undergoing chemotherapy while efforts are made to find a donor through Be the Match, an organization that connects patients with a matching donor for a life-saving marrow transplant.  

Be the Match is open to anyone, and those who choose to donate can do so by swabbing their mouth once they receive an at-home test kit in the mail. Within a month of mailing in your donation, you’ll be notified if you’re a match for Jimmie or another patient. 

For Jimmie’s donor search, he says doctors are specifically targeting males of “mixed Italian descent,” ages 18 - 40. 

In an effort to expedite the sample process, a small amount of Be the Match swab kits are available for pickup at Regional Eye Associates’ office at their White Oaks location, 220 S View Dr., Bridgeport. 

You can also text “Swab for Brian” to 61474 to receive instructions on obtaining a kit. 

Jimmie says that he knows that not everyone who is swabbed will be a match for him, but his hopes are that they might be able to help others by joining the database. 

Jimmie, 56, lives in Rivesville, and is a veteran who served his country in the United States Air Force where he met and married fellow veteran and his wife of 34 years, Karen. The couple has two sons, Michael and Nick.  

Cards or wishes of encouragement can be dropped off at the Alumni Affairs office on the ground floor of Health Sciences South, room G-270. 

For questions, contact Gina Slaugenhoup at gslaugenhoup@hsc.wvu.edu, or by calling 304-293-5110.