Before Patty Barnhart would stay overnight at the Lakin Correctional Center, as a volunteer with Kairos Prison Ministry International, her friends would help her make 60 dozen cookies for the inmates.
Now, as Barnhart battles leukemia, her friends are pitching in to help her again.
Karen Price, a close friend of Barnhart and former president of the West Virginia Manufacturers Association, has led the charge to have two bone marrow donor registration drives in Charleston on Thursday.
"She's extremely selfless, and would do anything for you," said Price, who hired Barnhart 22 years ago.
The chances that Barnhart will find a tissue match out of the people who sign up in Charleston aren't high, but the more people that are willing to donate, the higher the chance is that a life somewhere in America could be saved.
"It's not just for Patty," Price said. "When they sign up on the registry and swab their cheeks on the inside, then they're on the registry and they may find a match in California."
Every year, 12,000 patients in America are diagnosed with the blood cancers leukemia and lymphoma, according to Be The Match, a national organization that runs a bone marrow transplant registry.
Be The Match will be running the two registries, which requires a mouth swab for anyone willing to be a donor, since a bone marrow transplant requires matching tissues, not matching blood types.
"We are looking for a distinct tissue type," said Betsie Letterlie, a community engagement representative for Be The Match. "Every person has their own individual tissue type which they inherit from their parents, so it's like finding a DNA twin. They won't look alike physically, but their bone marrow will."
Because there are so many different tissue types, finding a match is extremely difficult. Plus, a patient has to be in remission from their cancer, which is something that Barnhart is waiting to learn from her doctors.
"A person will only go on to donate if they're an absolute match for the patient," Letterlie said. "Only one in every 540 people that I add to the registry goes on to become a donor."
According to the National Cancer Institute, nearly 14 out of every 100,000 West Virginia residents get leukemia each year. The state's rate of 13.7 people is a little higher than the national average of 13.2 people. So while it's a rarer form of cancer, it's not exactly uncommon.
"Most of the public knows that there's a need for blood donation," Letterlie said. "But not everyone knows that there's a need for marrow or stem cell donors as well."
There are two ways to donate bone marrow stem cells. One is through a process similar to a plasma donation, where they take the stem cells out of your blood. Another is through a process where they take a bit of bone marrow from your hip. Usually the hip marrow transplant is used to treat pediatric patients and only occurs 25 percent of the time.
"We want to make sure that everyone is capable when they join the registry," said Letterlie. "And willing to donate either way, because they have no idea who they'll be matched to. I'd hate for someone to get a call and say 'oh, no I'll only donate from my arm,' when there's a two year old who could survive their illness."
For Barnhart, surviving her illness is about being able to spend more time with her granddaughter, who was born a few months ago.
Price is trying to help make that happen by her newfound knowledge to others, all for the sake of Barnhart - or someone she's never met.
Be The Match is looking for donors that are between the ages of 18 and 44. They'll be at the University of Charleston student union between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. and the main lobby at the CAMC Cancer Center between 2 and 5 p.m.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or on follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.