October 2015

The Gift of Life

Through his master’s program in Health, Oluwapelumi Ade-Kolawole learned about the Be The Match program, in which volunteers donate bone marrow to save lives. The process of bone marrow extraction is long and painful. Thanks to Ade-Kolawole, a young Austrian girl was given a new lease on life.
by Michael Mayer


Alumni Spotlight

Oluwapelumi Ade-Kolawole looks like your ordinary college student. Little would you know that he saved the life of a young girl halfway around the world. A Spring 2015 graduate of the College of Health Sciences, he came to this country driven by his dream to be a doctor and has impacted lives not only here in Huntsville, TX, but also as far away as Austria. Ade-Kolawole had what he called a fortunate upbringing in Nigeria. Hailing from Lagos, a city of 13 million people, twenty-five-year-old Ade-Kolawole came to the U.S. to pursue a health-related degree so that he could apply to medical school. He decided on Sam Houston State University because he has family and friends in Huntsville, TX and was able to enroll in the Spring 2013 semester. “I also liked the name,” Ade-Kolawole said.

Ade-Kolawole will be the first person in his family in the medical field. His father is an aviator for the government of Nigeria, and his mother is a high school teacher. When he told his parents he wanted to be a doctor, they became his biggest supporters, helping him with tuition and support every step of the way. Ade-Kolawole’s undergraduate degree is in Anatomy. At Sam Houston State University, he is pursuing a master’s degree in Health, a program that will assist him in his aspirations to eventually go to his first choice medical school, the University of Pittsburgh.

When he started the program, he didn’t know much about American healthcare. His studies have opened his eyes to the vastness of the healthcare system. While working on his degree, he has explored an interest in geriatrics, a specialty in medicine that treats elderly patients. Ade-Kolawole also completed an internship with Ms. Lisa Clarkson, an adjunct professor in the College of Health Sciences. This internship consisted of setting up booths on campus to discuss healthcare topics, such as healthy eating, exercise, and sexual responsibility. He also gave presentations to groups of students like fraternities, sororities, and clubs, in addition to working with the William R. Powell Student Health and Counseling Center.
He worked a total of 300 hours for this program split between two semesters. His internship, along with his work at Huntsville Memorial Hospital, affirmed his desire to become a doctor by giving him first-hand experience.

In his first semester at SHSU, he learned about a program called Be The Match, which connects donors with recipients for transplants of bone marrow and umbilical cord blood to treat blood cancers like leukemia. Thinking that his African roots would limit his chances to be a match, Ade-Kolawole signed up and cheek swabs were taken. Almost a year went by before he heard back from Be The Match. He turned out to be a potential match for a leukemia patient. Further testing confirmed that he was a match for an 11-year-old girl from Austria. Donating bone marrow is performed under general anesthesia, so there is no pain during the procedure, but after waking up, back pain, fatigue, and headaches are common. After the donor is unconscious, doctors extract marrow from each side of the hip. Roughly a quart of marrow is taken.

The choice to donate made Ade-Kolawole reflect on how blood cancers had affected his own family. He decided to go through with the procedure in an attempt to save the girl’s life. On September 2, 2014, Ade-Kolawole lay on a gurney at Houston Methodist Hospital as a nurse prepared the anesthesia. But he was back to work at the Health Center less than a week later. The movement aided in his recovery. In January 2015, he received word that his donation was used for the little girl, but he may never know the outcome of the transplant. Donor and recipient information is strictly confidential by law. Any contact between the two parties is kept anonymous by the transplant centers. Unless both parties agree to contact each other, they may never know what happened.

As Ade-Kolawole approached his final semester, he elected to take most of his classes online, an option offered by the College of Health Sciences. While geriatrics has been a new experience for him, Ade-Kolawole has several areas he wants to specialize in after medical school, but pediatrics is where his heart lies. “Little kids are wonderful. Sometimes they can be tyrants, but I like the fact that they are usually very honest when you ask them questions. They don’t lie to you like adults do to doctors,” Ade-Kolawole said with a smile.

Now that he has graduated from Sam Houston State University, he is looking for a research job in the industry while applying to medical school. Ade-Kolawole’s goal is to remain in the U.S. once he finishes medical school and would love to be in Houston. Ade-Kolawole’s life has taken him halfway around the world, a journey few will undergo. A proud Bearkat, his experience is a fantastic lesson in how hard work and a supportive family can influence others far outside one’s own circle. If you ask him, Ade won’t claim to be a hero, but his life in Nigeria gave him the motivation to try to help someone in need.

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