BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - When you are a student-athlete it is hard to be selfless sometimes—you have practice, games, weight lifting, conditioning, school, homework and not to mention trying to find time to sleep. WKU swimmer Chris Goodman is making the time to do a selfless act, as he is becoming a bone marrow donor to help save someone's life.
The donation act came together after Goodman went to the Preston Center on WKU's campus to sign up to be a bone marrow donor, as there was a registration event for the cause in the spring of 2013.
"I actually coach in the summers, and a little girl had leukemia and had a bone marrow transplant," Goodman said. "So I had known about it and decided to sign up."
This past July, Goodman got a phone call from the organization Delete Blood Cancer to tell him he was a match. After his match had a couple of obstacles to overcome health-wise, Goodman had to hold off his donation, but is now set to head to Washington D.C. and begin the process.
The junior said there are two processes in the bone marrow donation, as there is the one most people know about with surgery, but many have to do Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) donation, which is what Goodman will undergo.
"Basically five days prior to a donation, I will be given two shots every day, and it overproduces the stem cells in the bloodstream," Goodman said. "Then I will go on the fifth day, which is donation day, and they will insert a needle in one arm and a needle in the other. A machine will then pull the stem cells out through the blood of one arm while putting my blood back in my body through the other. So I just sit in a bed for 4-6 hours."
Goodman and his swimming and diving teammates are currently in-season, as the team opened with a pair of wins over Delta State on Oct. 11. WKU is back in action on Saturday, Nov. 1 against IUPUI and Indiana, so Goodman hopes the recovery process will be over by the time the meet is here.
"When I start my series of shots, I'm not allowed to swim, so that puts me out a couple of days," Goodman said. "It's all about how I feel when I get back. Usually with the stem cell donation, it is a quick recovery. With bone marrow donation, it's usually 2-3 weeks. I should be back for our meet, so I'm hoping they will take me."
Sometimes it is hard to see the big picture outside of winning and losing or posting good times in the water; however, the road to becoming a bone marrow donor has given Goodman a new look on life.
"I think it's awesome," Goodman said of going through the process. "There is less than a one percent chance that you are going to be a match, so the fact that I'm a match is awesome. It really puts everything into perspective. If you have a big problem in your life, it really isn't that bad. That's the most I'm getting out of it—the perspective."
