Family Supports Organ Donors Booth for South Dakota Pow Wow Story-Date: 06:31 p.m. PST Sunday , July 20, 1997 Family Supports Organ Donors Booth for South Dakota Pow Wow BY K. MARIE PORTERFIELD, INDIAN COUNTRY TODAY, RAPID CITY, S.D. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News PINE RIDGE, S.D.--Jul. 21--The Pourier family wants to make sure no other American Indian family experiences a similar loss of their own. Nineteen-year-old Shellie Pourier died June 13 after developing an infection while awaiting a bone marrow transplant. Her parents, aunts and uncles have contacted the American Indian National Marrow Donor Program and will sponsor a marrow recruitment booth at the Oglala Nation Pow Wow in Pine Ridge, Aug. 1 and 2. ``When Shellie first was diagnosed with leukemia we didn't understand how serious it was or how important the bone marrow was,'' her cousin, Dena Wilson said. ``If we had found a donor earlier, her chances of staying alive would have been greater.'' Shellie Pourier was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia, cancer of the blood cells, over a year ago. In February, doctors told the Pouriers that if she underwent a bone marrow transplant her chances of survival would increase dramatically. A transplant involves a transfusion of marrow tissue from a donor. Once inside the patient's body, the marrow makes its way into the bones, attaches to them and begins cell division, producing a new, healthy population of blood cells. ``The doctors said we'd have a tough time finding a donor, so few American Indians signed up for the bone marrow registry,'' Mrs. Pourier said in May. ``They told us a tissue match would be more likely with someone from our own ethnic background and that it might take as long as a year.'' After learning her daughter needed a bone marrow transplant, Georgine Pourier registered with the American Indian National Marrow Donor Program. Even though her own marrow did not match Shellie's, she feels positive about remaining on the registry. ``To me, signing up means you could save a life,'' she said. Becoming part of the registry takes only a few minutes. ``It's simple. You just sit down, have a tube of blood drawn and sign a paper,'' Ms. Wilson said. ``When we found out that three more children in Pine Ridge have leukemia, our family wanted to help them,'' she said. ``We need more American Indian donors.'' The Pourier family will also sponsor a walk in Shellie Pourier's memory on the Friday morning of the pow wow, Aug. 1. ----- ON THE INTERNET: Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1997, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------