FRANKLIN TWP — Blood donors are told they are giving the gift of life. But for one Franklin Township man, the life saved by his blood donations was his own.

Tim Lefever, 836 W. Old Route 422, was a regular blood donor for nearly seven years when he stopped by the Central Blood Bank in Butler in August to give blood.

“They said my white blood cell count was a little low,” said Lefever, 49, after he received a notification from the blood bank. “When I gave blood again in November, my white cell count was dangerously low.”

“They told me to go to my doctor,” said Lefever, referring to his primary care physician, Dr. Michael Wahl. He was sent to a specialist, Dr. James Rossetti at West Penn Hospital.

“On Jan. 22, I got my final diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia,” said Lefever. “On Jan. 23, I was in the hospital beginning my first course of 7-day chemotherapy.”

Rossetti, the cellular therapy program assistant director at West Penn, said, “He was referred to me by a hematologist. He had a low white cell count, as well as low platelets and hemoglobin.”

“His counts were beginning to fall further and a repeat bone marrow study showed progression, which is why we decided to admit him and expedite therapy,” Rossetti said.

“I never had a symptom up until the chemotherapy,” said Lefever. “It never would have been known.”

“Leukemia affects the immune system,” he said. “If I would have gotten a cold or a flu, I could have died trying to fight through it.”

Candy Lefever, his wife, said, “The chances are they wouldn't have found it until he was very sick. And then it might have been too late to respond to treatment.”

“The doctor told me you are really lucky because you are young and we found it early,” Lefever said.

However, Lefever's chemotherapy has left him with nausea, high fevers, mouth sores and hair loss. He recently completed a five-day round of chemotherapy started March 3.

“I have to stay away from big crowds, and I don't shake hands,” said Lefever because of his weakened immune system. “I wear I mask when I go out in public.

“Even after the therapy, he needs significant blood and platelet transfusion support to help him recover, ” said Rossetti.

Eventually, after the chemotherapy has eradicated the leukemia, Rossetti said, Lefever will need a peripheral blood stem cell transplant, or as its commonly known, a bone-marrow transplant, to restore his body's ability to make blood.

The procedure offers him the best chance for a cure, Rossetti said. Donors will either donate actual marrow taken during a surgery from the donor's pelvic bone or, more commonly, donate cells collected from the blood on a pheresis machine (or centrifuge) after a 5-day drug regimen to stimulate stem cell growth, said Rossetti.

Because of Lefever's need to find a donor and to replace the blood used after his chemotherapy, First United Methodist Church's Crossfire campus, 1802 N. Main St. Ext., will hold a replenishment blood and marrow typing drive from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

“There's a one in 50,000 chance of a match,” said Lefever, “but we're doing this in the hopes that people will join the national registry of bone marrow donors.”

“My three siblings were tested. There was no match,” Lefever said.

Cindy Ford, director of communications for the church, said the church is providing space and Central Blood Bank, the staff.

“The family has lined up others to make cookies and act as hosts,” said Ford.

In addition to giving blood, donors will be asked to give a cheek swab to be entered into the Be The Match national registry for bone marrow donors.

Lefever, who was readmitted to West Penn Hospital last week because of an infection, is facing rounds of chemotherapy every four to six weeks until the leukemia is destroyed. Then he has to wait for a donor match.

As for a cause of his leukemia, Lefever said his doctors told him “My genetics are OK. I must have been near something that caused this. Normally, this type of leukemia happens to someone who is older or who has had chemotherapy already.”

“I want to stress to people that you want to find out early,” said Lefever. “When you give blood you are helping others and you could be helping yourself.”

<B>WHAT: </B>Replenishment blood drive and marrow typing<B>WHEN: </B>9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday<B>WHERE: </B>First United Methodist Church Crossfire campus, 1802 N. Main St. Ext. (corner of Route 8 and Mercer Road)<B>INFO: </B>For more information, call 724-290-5880 or visit www.centralbloodbank.org and search with sponsor code Z0020866