CHICORA — Last spring, 32-year-old Nathan Lambert of Chicora was sitting in a pediatrician's office with his son, Oliver, now about 15 months old. The doctor noticed that Nathan was pale and suggested he get checked out.

“He went to a hematologist. The doctor said it could have been one of 15 things, and one of them was leukemia,” said Nathan's mother, Peggy Lambert of Forestville. Her 28-year-old son, Jonathan, won his 3½-year battle with a different type of leukemia 14 years ago. And now it was Nathan.

“I felt good (at the time),” said Nathan. Though a few days later his wife, Brittany, also noticed that he looked pale. “‘I'm getting blood work tomorrow,' I said. A week later I was in the oncologist's office,” Nathan said.

Unfortunately, on May 6, 2011, Nathan was diagnosed with AML, acute myeloid leukemia, a cancer that progresses rapidly and is typically fatal within weeks or months if left untreated. “Seventy percent of the cells in my blood were cancer cells,” Nathan said.

The keen eye of Oliver's pediatrician may have saved Nathan's life.

He's been treated with antibiotics and chemotherapy since then and went into remission briefly on Dec. 20, getting a chance to go back to his job at USIS in Boyers for a month. But he soon relapsed and has spent the past 54 days in UPMC Shadyside Hospital.

“I've spent 142 days in the hospital since last May,” said Nathan. “I've had 43 IVs from June to December … and four infections.”

Nathan's doctors recommended a stem-cell transplant to prevent another relapse, but he has not been able to find a donor who is a tissue match.

“Everyone in the family who is eligible has been tested,' said Peggy Lambert “but there is only a 25 percent chance that family members will match.”

It is possible to find a match from a random donor.

“Patients who have AML and are transplanted require the largest population of unrelated donors,” said Alex Reynolds, stem-cell transplant coordinator at Hillman Cancer Center in Shadyside. She is responsible for matching donors to patients.

“(Finding a donor) really depends on the patient. Some people have very common typing, and some uncommon typing. I have searched for months and years for donors with uncommon typing,” she added.

Nathan Lambert is one of those patients with uncommon typing.

Reynolds explained that people who are interested in entering into the national registry for stem cell donation can go to the website www.marrow.org to receive a kit. The kit will provide materials for a buccal or cheek swab.

“The first swab just enters them into the registry. It takes three and one-half to four months to process and become part of the registry,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds searches the registry to find potential matches for patients awaiting transplant. When someone is a match, they must have further testing.

In June a blood drive was held for Nathan's benefit and just a few weeks ago, another one was staged at Karns City High School where 60 people were swabbed for stem-cell donation.

But the results are not in. Brittany also campaigned

“Brittany went on a rampage on Facebook and linked marrow.org which explained that it's not a horror to donate stem cells. … She got 40 or 50 people signed up,” Nathan said.

“I was on the marrow list for eight years to donate and never got called. Then, two days after I was diagnosed, I got a letter saying I was a match for someone. I said, ‘You're not gonna want my stem cells now.' But if I could, I would do it. It's not that bad and you can save someone's life,” Nathan said.

Until he gets a matched donor, Nathan, like many others in his position will be waiting.

“The worst part is being away from my wife and kid. He (Oliver) comes in once a week now and torments the nurses,” said Nathan.

Brittany, who carries the health insurance, must continue to work at USIS but her employer is flexible, allowing her go into the office three or four days a week and work from the hospital some days.

Now and then, Nathan and Brittany blow up an air mattress, squeeze it into his hospital room and stay up watching online movies that they feed into the hospital television. “It's more like home,” he said.

But for now, UPMC Shadyside is his “second home” he said, and he makes the most of the time: writing thank-you cards, walking, making new friends and entertaining visitors.

“If it's nice, I go outside. Last week, I snuck over to Starbucks and the nurse said, ‘If you get lightheaded, here's my cell phone number. I'll come over to get you in a wheelchair.' They've been great,” he said.

“We try to stay positive. It's not gonna do anybody any good to say, ‘Woe is me.' We try to joke about it. I guess it's the Lambert in me,” Nathan said.

To learn more about stem cell donation, go to www.marrow.org or www.bethematch.org., or contact your local Central Blood Bank.