Newport Principal Battling Cancer Finds Bone Marrow Match in Twin Brother

NEWPORT, RI—A local school principal battling cancer and in need of a bone marrow transplant has found a match—in his twin brother.

Jaime Crowley, principal of Thompson Middle School in Newport, has learned that his brother, Michael, is a perfect match and the families are preparing for surgery next week.

Word of the match came in the form of a heartfelt message from Melissa Crowley that was posted on social media. She said that the family is mindful of how fortunate they are and doctors "are very optimistic as is Jaime and our entire family that he will conquer this and will continue to live a full life. . .we just need to get through these next few months."

Crowley, along with another school employee battling cancer, Maureen Martin, were the focus of a bone marrow drive held earlier this year at Claiborne Pell Elementary School.

Both are battling Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and the Crowley family has worked to raise awareness about the importance of potential bone marrow donors stepping up and signing up to get a cheek swab and get entered into a national database.

Maureen Crowley said that at first, the family was originally told that Jaime's brothers were not matches. Michael was sick when they originally tested and that delayed his results.

Jaime has been undergoing an exhausting and draining round of chemotherapy for the past 21 days. The transplant is due to be performed at Mass General Hospital. After, Jaime "will spend the next month in isolation while receiving intense chemo the first week which will destroy his entire immune system. . . good and bad," Crowley wrote.

Crowley will become very thin, will lose his hair and can't help but worry that it might scare his children and students. BUt, his wife writes, "I tell him to stop worrying.

"It's baseball season and our family lives in a baseball hat for the next six months anway."

The family is determined, and not just to get through their own battle with cancer.

"Once this is all done, I will look for help on educating our children of the importance of being on the donor list. Our bodies have the ability to heal others...think about that, it really is a beautiful thing. Like me until this happened, I don't think people understand the importance," Crowley said.

Getting on the list is easy. Just go to BeTheMatch.org and sign up.

The Rhode Island Blood Center also has information about how to get involved.

Update: Maureen Martin announced Thursday that she has also found a match. The donor is a 29-year-old female and the tentative transplant date is April 29, she said.

"Thank you all for being on this roller coaster of a journey with me," she said. "Love you all! We got this!"