More than four hundred patients who have received bone marrow or blood stem cell transplants will meet with their caregivers, loved ones and the donors in Iowa City today. Colleen Chapleau directs the Iowa Marrow Donor Program and is organizing the “Celebrating Life Reunion.”More than 14-hundred bone marrow or blood stem cell transplants have been conducted at the University of Iowa Hospitals since the special unit opened in 1980. Chapleau says when patients first come to the center, they’re being seen at their most vulnerable point in life.Among the Iowa examples, 23-year-old Tiffany Jennings of Strawberry Point received a much-needed bone marrow transplant from a person she had never met. Chapleau says that’ll change today as she’ll meet the man who donated the marrow.Other donors and recipients will meet for the first time at today’s event, which Chapleau calls a “joyous occasion.” The celebration is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p-m in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union.
