Solid match - Warren Cooper didn’t think twice about being his brother’s bone marrow donor

When his little brother, Warren, was a freshman in college, David Cooper, helped him find his way around campus and get his books at the bookstore.

They lived in different apartments in the same apartment complex, so each could have his independence, but David kept tabs on him.

“He always tried to look after me,” Warren said. “He was the big brother and made sure that I did this or that. He tried to keep me out of trouble.”

After college, life took the brothers to separate towns. David and his wife, Donna, live in Clarksville, Tenn., with their two children. And Warren lives with his wife, Sandra, and 4-year-old son, Dalton, in Mooresboro.

No doubt about the match
But when David was diagnosed in January with acute leukemia, Warren didn’t think twice about being a bone marrow donor for his brother.

“I never considered doing anything different. I prayed, but I never doubted that I would be a match,” Warren said.

The numbers were against him — the chances that a sibling will be a match are between 20 to 25 percent. However, Warren surprised doctors by not only being a match, but a 10 out of 10 match — the closest you can get.

“That’s a miracle of God,” Warren said.

David and Warren’s mother, Joy Cooper Williams, said she’s scared about the upcoming transplant but she’s also holding onto her faith.

“We have been praying from the first day and God has answered our prayers,” she said. “We are praying for a full recovery and a minimum of side effects.”

A new birthday
The transplant will take place July 2-3 at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville, Tenn. Warren’s wife and son, his mom and his dad, Don Cooper, are going to be there for the transplant. Williams said the hospital is one of the best in treating David’s type of cancer. She participated in a caregivers class last week and learned what she can expect before and after the transplant.

David will go in the hospital on June 28 to prepare for the transplant. He will be given intense chemotherapy and radiation treatments that will kill all of his bone marrow. At the same time, Warren will begin taking shots that will make his body produce stem cells. On July 2, the stem cells will be harvested in a manner that is similar to donating blood. The blood is pumped out, goes through a machine and then is put back into the bloodstream. The new stem cells will be given to David on July 3.

“July 3 is his new birthday. It will take about two years for a full recovery,” Williams said.

Family’s faith important
She said that David’s prognosis is good, because they discovered the leukemia early. They found it in January and he’s been in remission since March.
“I have more faith than I’ve ever had,” she said.

She grew up in a Christian home with a mother who believed in prayer.

“My mother’s influence and my family’s influence was so important,” Williams said. “You never know what your children will face and they have to have something to lean on.”

Warren, who serves as a deacon at Sandy Run Baptist Church in Mooresboro, said the support and prayers of his church family have helped his family face this difficult and scary time.

“I’m blessed to have the network of friends that I have,” he said. “Everybody has been so supportive of our family.”

Praying for others and celebrating life
But he also wants people to realize that they are not the only ones who need prayer.

“At Vanderbilt, there is a whole room of people who are fighting leukemia,” he said. “We don’t have the toughest battle.”

He also said the experience has made him think more about the time he spends with his family.

“You look around and notice the little things,” he said.
“If you haven’t talked to somebody in a while pick up the phone and call them, because you never know. If Dalton wants to swim a little longer, we swim a little longer. If he wants to play ball a little longer we play ball.”

If you’d like to send a message of encouragement to the family, e-mail joyetc@bellsouth.net.

(In the photo above, David is on the left.)

If you have a story to share about how someone has brightened your day, post your comments on the Random Acts of Kindness blog at shelbystar.com under “Staff Blogs” or e-mail jackiebridges@shelbystar.com or call 704-669-3337.