COURTESY TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
Sharnell Onaga, here with husband Clifton and daughter Kaila, has been diagnosed with myeloid leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant.

Eager to give, she now waits to receive

Sharnell Onaga reluctantly shifts roles after a blood test reveals leukemia's presence

» Upcoming bone marrow drives

By Helen Altonn
haltonn@starbulletin.com

Sharnell Onaga waited a long time to donate her bone marrow to help a cancer patient, but when the chance came, she could not. She was on the wait list herself for a transplant.

"It was kind of funny because I've been on the Bone Marrow Donor Registry almost three years, and they called me last week to say they found a match for me to donate for someone," she said in an interview.

"But I can't because I'm sick now."

Onaga, 38, was diagnosed in June with acute myeloid leukemia, and the registry is looking for a bone marrow match for her.

"I was so bummed I couldn't help," she said. "It's like winning the lottery, they say."

Onaga is expecting her third child in January. Her disease was discovered during a routine blood test in June when she was nine weeks pregnant.

She said she has no symptoms of leukemia: "No bruising, no bleeding. It's amazing. What I have is something 70-year-old men have. It's kind of strange. Doctors are pretty baffled themselves. They're trying to see what could be the cause."

Since she no longer can donate her bone marrow, she hopes to help other patients by encouraging people to sign up as potential donors.

The Hawaii Bone Marrow Registry at St. Francis Medical Center is holding a series of drives this month to find a match for Onaga and other patients awaiting transplants.

Roy Yonashiro, donor recruitment coordinator at the Hawaii Registry, said Onaga "is so optimistic for what she's going through. She's very confident she's going to find a donor not just for her, but for other patients."

He said a preliminary search for a match for her began Sept. 19 in the United States and registries in other countries. About 6.5 million people are registered, but no match was found, he said.

Onaga's husband, Clifton, one of the vice presidents of family-owned Amazon Construction, is getting the word out to all truck drivers and construction workers to support the bone marrow drives, Yonashiro said.

Minority ethnic donors especially are needed, said Onaga, who is part Puerto Rican and Portuguese. "People from different ethnicities really need to get out there and be aware of this."

The diagnosis of leukemia was a surprise, she said, because she had a blood test in April after finding a lump under her arm, and "everything was completely fine."

After tests in June showed she had leukemia, her doctor sent her to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for confirmation and to get her name on the National Bone Marrow Registry, she said.

She is not being treated with chemotherapy or radiation because she is pregnant.

She said she has a little shortness of breath, but her doctor says that is from the pregnancy, not leukemia. "Normally people would have bleeding gums and bruising and be tired," she said, explaining she has none of those signs of the disease.

Although she is nearly six months pregnant, a mother of two and works as an aesthetician (doing skin care) at the Ihilani Resort and Spa at Ko Olina, she said, "I'm not tired."

The baby is five days ahead of schedule and doing great, according to ultrasound tests, she said. She knew the sex of her two daughters in advance but said she is "going to try to be surprised this time."

"We're praying for full term" for the baby, she said. If the doctors feel they need to induce labor to begin cancer treatments, she said they will do it at 32 weeks.

"My mom (Marilyn Moura) has been amazing," Onaga said. "She's dropping off fliers everywhere."

Upcoming bone marrow donor drives

The Hawaii Bone Marrow Donor Registry is holding drives to find a matching donor for Sharnell Onaga, who needs a bone marrow transplant. Drives are scheduled as follows:

» Tomorrow, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Discover Moiliili Festival at Old Stadium Park

» Monday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Oahu Teachers Institute Day at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center (parking: $4)

» Oct. 14, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Hispanic Heritage Festival at Kapiolani Park near the bandstand.

Three drives will be held at Sam's Club at Pearl Highlands Center in Pearl City: Oct. 20 from 2 to 6 p.m., Oct. 21 from noon to 4 p.m. and Oct. 22 from 2 to 6 p.m.

Donors must be in good general health and between the ages of 18 and 60. For more information, call 547-6154 or see www.stfrancishawaii.org/hawaiibonemarrow.