By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

WOONSOCKET — Diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma nine years ago, Michael Cormier's odds of finding a match for a life-saving bone marrow transplant was 1 in 20,000.

Miraculously, Cormier, 45, beat those odds last year when the National Marrow Donor Program Registry notified the Woonsocket man that a match had been found.
"We were elated," says Cormier's wife, Denise. "It was like a sign from God."
After nine years of radiation and chemotherapy, Cormier's only hope for survival is a marrow transplant, and when the donor match was found last April, the Mendon Road family — which includes two teenage children — finally had reason to be hopeful.
The transplant was all set to take place in October, but the donor later decided he wanted to wait until after the holidays. "We were disappointed, but we understood," says Denise. "So we resubmitted some dates for January."
On Dec. 21, four days before Christmas, the donor chose to not follow through with the transplant leaving the Cormiers heartbroken and with no choice but to resume their search.
"We were devastated," says Denise. "We actually had our bags packed for the hospital. We were angry, frustrated and there was a lot of crying. But we're not judgmental. We don't know why he changed his mind. There could have been something going on in his life that we weren't aware of. We'll never know."

The Diagnosis
Nine years ago, Michael Cormier's life couldn't have been happier.
A supervisor at a local company in the city, Cormier was a dedicated worker and family man who often put in 10-hour days on the job. On the weekends, he enjoyed spending time with his wife and children, watching the Patriots and Red Sox and tinkering with his antique Oldsmobile.
Denise Cormier is a supervisor at The Homestead Group, formerly known as The Arc. The Homestead Group is a not-for-profit human service agency that provides support and services for nearly 1,000 men,
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women, and children with developmental disabilities who live throughout Rhode Island.
Life as the Cormiers knew it changed in 1999, when Michael was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer of lymph tissue found in the lymph nodes, spleen, liver and bone marrow. The symptoms actually started the year before, but like a lot of men, Cormier was reluctant to go to a doctor. When he finally did see his doctor, the cancer was at a stage where treatment required a combination of radiation and chemotherapy.
In 2001, Cormier was told that his only chance of survival would be a marrow transplant. With over 20,000 types of bone marrow, the average person has a 1 in 20,000 chance of finding a match. Cormier turned to his immediate family, but that didn't pan out, so he decided to undergo a transplant using his own cells.
There are two major types of bone marrow transplants, autologous and allogenec transplants.
Autologous stem cell transplants are performed with stem cells that are collected from the patient's own blood stream. These are called "peripheral stem cells" because they do not come directly from the marrow. These cells are collected, stored in a frozen state, and later thawed and given back to the patient after completion of high doses of chemotherapy.
Allogeneic transplants use bone marrow from a healthy donor, usually a brother or sister, who has the same tissue type. If a sibling is not available, a search of the National Marrow Donor Program registry of tissue-typed volunteers can be made for a non-related donor.
With not a single match on the National Marrow Donor registry since his diagnosis and buoyed by the fact that it has a 75 percent success rate, Cormier opted for the autologous transplant in 2002. Unfortunately, the procedure was not successful for Cormier who was forced to go back on chemotherapy. But by that time, time was starting to run out.
"Now the cancer is growing quickly and out-of-control," says Denise. "The big push is now. He's at a real dangerous point."

A Miracle on the Horizon
Denise Cormier will never forget the telephone call. On an early spring day in April, the family recieved a call from the National Marrow Donor registry. A match for Michael had been found.
Each year, more than 10,000 Americans are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases that can only be cured with a bone marrow or cord blood transplant from an unrelated donor. Marrow is the soft tissue inside the bones that produces blood cells. The National Marrow Donor Program finds donors for patients who don't have a match in their family.
The actual transplant is fairly simple. After anesthesia is given, doctors remove a small amount of marrow from the back of the hip bones with a needle and syringe. Recovery is quick though most donors have some bone pain and aches for several days or a few weeks. The marrow given naturally replenishes itself in 4-6 weeks.

The Cormiers got the call in April, but weren't able to go forward with the transplant until October. "At that time Mike just had too much cancer so they wanted to do some more chemo treatments for a few months before we could go through the transplant," Denise explained.
Cormier was re-tested in the fall and was good to go. Arrangements were made with the donor and the transplant was set up for October, but the donor made a last minute decision to wait until after the holidays.
"We were disappointed, but we understood," she said. "We figured maybe the donor didn't want to spend the holidays in the hospital and we respected that decision."
The real bad news came four days before Christmas: The donor decided not to go through with the transplant.
"We were basically told that he changed his mind," said Cormier. "You don't talk personally with potential donors because it's all arranged through the National Marrow Donor registry, so we really don't know what happened or why he changed his mind."

Marrow Donor Drive
As heartbreaking as it is to be starting all over again in their search for a donor, the family is trying to stay as upbeat as possible.
A marrow donor drive to support Michael Cormier will be held Monday, Jan. 28 from 2 to 6 p.m. at The Homestead Group’s Social Center located at One Social St., Woonsocket.
Tissue type is inherited so Michael’s donor will most likely be of a similar French and Polish background. However, donors from all backgrounds are needed. The Cormier family is urging people to attend the drive and join the National Marrow Donor Program registry in Michael’s honor.
"We've had one match in six years," says Denise, "so volume is really key."
Registering is simple: To join, you must be between 18 and 60 years of age, meet specific health guidelines and be willing to donate to any patient in need. People who choose to register are required to bring their health insurance card and submit to a mouth swabbing.
For more information on the marrow drive, call Nicole at the Rhode Island Blood Center at 248-5720 or by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
As for the Cormiers, they're praying another donor match will be found soon.
"We can't wait much longer. We need a miracle and we need it now."