Absorb's 'quiet hero' donates bone marrow to save a child

To hear Scott Harris speak, you would think giving a talk to staff at the Australian Red Cross Blood Services about bone marrow transplant is a normal thing to do during your lunch break.

The 46 year-old National Warehouse and Distribution Manager at Absorb Environmental Solutions in Brisbane became a regular blood donor during his teens and recently took time off work to give bone marrow for a seriously ill child.

“I’ve donated blood every three months or so since I was 18 years-old and during one visit to the blood bank about 12 years ago they told me about the bone marrow registry so I signed up for that too,” he said.

“I filled out the forms, gave a bit of extra blood for tissue matching and never gave it much thought after that.

“Then a couple of years ago I had a phone call out of the blue to say a young child needed bone marrow and I was a possible match. They wanted to know if I was still interested.

“There was a lot of rigmarole to go through; lots of tests because only a fraction of potential donors get through the first stage and only a few of them are actually a good match.”

It turned out that Scott was a perfect genetic match, but nothing further happened at that time because the child went into remission.

Unfortunately, the remission didn’t last, which was why Scott recently received a call to say the situation was desperate and he would be needed after all.

The child had a bout of influenza which meant the bone marrow transfer had to be postponed for a couple of weeks but Scott knew it would be going ahead and prepared himself for the procedure.

“It meant arranging for time off work, but of course Absorb was fully supportive, saying I could have all the time I needed and also providing me with extra help when I came back on light duties,” Scott said.

“I went in early on the Friday morning and had the surgery under general anaesthetic.

“They extracted 20ml of bone marrow at a time from my pelvis until they had 850ml.”

“They treated me so well, giving me the opportunity to back out at every stage and almost waiting on me hand and foot because I was helping out.”

“I know it was a big thing but I served in the military for 23 years and I learned the importance of looking after others.

“This was something that had to be done and backing out wasn’t an option or even a consideration.

Scott said everyone at Absorb had backed him all the way.

“I had practical support while I recovered and moral support from everyone,” he said.

“Luckily, my wife also works at Absorb so she was able to leave work early to come and pick me up and encouraged to look after me after the day surgery.

“Although the procedure itself was painless there was a significant amount of discomfort in my back for a few weeks.

“Mine was only the second bone marrow transfer performed in Brisbane during the past 10 months.

“The Red Cross has invited me to come and give a talk to staff at the blood bank because they don’t often meet donors face-to-face.”

*To find out more about bone marrow donation call the Red Cross Blood Service on 13 14 95.