Meeting her match could save her life

She has the energy of someone half her 36 years.

Her smile is so infectious you start smiling even though your brain says you shouldn't.

Models would love to have her complexion.

Two young sons haven't made this blackjack dealer at Caesars Palace any less dainty.

No doubt about it: Jennifer Brion is the picture of good health.

Which just goes to show yet again that looks can be deceiving.

You see, if 5-foot Jennifer doesn't receive a bone marrow transplant soon, it won't be long before she's on death's doorstep.

"Her situation's urgent," said Dr. Rupesh Parikh, the blood cancer specialist who diagnosed Jennifer with myelodysplastic syndrome or MDS. "Without treatment, her prognosis is dismal. We don't want this developing into acute leukemia."

Employee friends at Caesars, including Steve Lake and Michelle Aguilera, are encouraging staffers there and other Nevadans to visit bethematch.org to see how they can become part of the National Marrow Donor Program. You have to be willing to donate to any patient in need. Part of registration involves giving a swab of cheek cells.

About half the 10,000 people each year who need a transplant receive one. Like Jennifer, most don't have a matching donor in their family.

MDS, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, is one of a group of disorders characterized by abnormal development of one or more of the cell lines that are normally found in the bone marrow.

"I only knew I was sick because they said so," Jennifer said, laughing, as she sat in her mother's home near Boulder Station.

MDS has been in the public eye following the recent transplant received by "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts. Millions of donor stem cells from Roberts' sister were injected into her system through a syringe during a five-minute procedure.

The disease can be brought on by chemotherapy and radiation, treatments Roberts underwent five years ago after her breast cancer diagnosis. Jennifer never had any such treatment.

"The usual age for this disease is 60 to 69 unless you have risk factors like chemotherapy and radiation," Parikh said. "I'm afraid Jennifer just had bad luck."

Six months ago, Jennifer had blood drawn as part of a wellness exam. Her blood was deficient in red blood cells. Doctors, trying to pinpoint the cause, had her undergo more than 20 tests over six months.

"I thought doctors were just running up bills on me," Jennifer said.

Not until specialist Parikh examined test results was a bone marrow biopsy ordered and an August diagnosis made.

His patient was only days from leaving Las Vegas to join her husband and two children in Denver. Mike Brion had taken a job in his dad's business. They planned on buying a house.

"I'm so glad I got the news when I did," she said. "Otherwise, I would have been without insurance."

Still, the situation is highly stressful. Jennifer spends a few days in Denver each month to see her husband and 10- and 4-year-old boys - they're now staying with her in-laws - and then comes back to Las Vegas, staying with her mother when she's not working. Travel expenses grow. Though he calls his wife four times a day to check on her, Mike Brion says he feels terrible for not being on hand for what are now regular blood transfusions to stabilize his wife's condition.

Jennifer will work at Caesars until a donor has been found. A transplant would take place in Denver.

"The doctors say I'll really be sick at transplant," she said. "I'll lose my hair because they have to give me chemo to destroy my cells to make way for the new cells. I'll be in the hospital for a month but doctors say I have to be closely watched for infection in the first 100 days. I just know a donor will be found and the transplant will work. It has to. I have two little boys to raise."

Paul Harasim is the medical reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His column appears Mondays. Harasim can be reached at pharasim@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.