"All from a cotton swab..."

"All from a cotton swab..."

Marine gets swabbed, gives second chance at life, marries girl
Consolidated Public Affairs Office

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa (March 27, 2009) -- Men have always gone to great lengths to impress women with a variety of means from creative pick-up lines to arranging extravagant dates.

Lance Cpl. Aaron Hostutler, a combat correspondent with the Marine Corps Base Consolidated Public Affairs Office, thought his approach particularly clever.

It started in 2007 with a trip to the base commissary while Hostutler was attending public affairs training at Ft. George G. Meade in Maryland. Among those with him that day was the one he considered his "dream girl," a 21-year-old airman also attending public affairs training. The airman noticed a booth seeking volunteers for a bone marrow donation program. She commented it was "neat."

Hostutler saw his chance. He figured he could use the simple mouth swab at the booth to demonstrate his compassion for others. Little did he know, the decision he made that day would have lasting effects on him, his "dream girl" and a 17-year-old suffering from severe anemia.

As luck would have it, he did impress the girl. Hostutler went on to marry Airman First Class Shaunlee Salyers in January, and that simple mouth swab resulted in a procedure that may give a teenager a second chance at life.

"For me it just felt like fate," Shaunlee said, referring to how she met Hostutler, his decision to participate in the donor program and their ensuing marriage. "It was like we were part of a bigger plan."

The program Hostutler tested for was the C.W. Bill Young Department of Defense Marrow Donor Program, an organization that, according to its Web site, serves as an integral part of the national effort to match patients in need of a marrow transplant with donors they are not related to.

Hostutler said he was surprised program officials were so intent on flying him from Okinawa to Orange County, Calif., for the operation.

When he found out the trip would be considered permissive temporary duty and program officials were willing to pay his airfare and cover all lodging and food costs for him and his wife while in California, he began to understand the urgency of the situation.

Hostutler flew to Orange County Feb. 1.

Soon after arriving for the procedure, Hostutler reunited with his wife, who flew in from Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.

The symbolism of being reunited due to the marrow program was not lost on Shaunlee, who has orders to report to Okinawa in May.

"I thought it was a blessing, because that is how we met. I felt like he was meant to do it," she said.

After a series of tests and observation, Hostuler was admitted for the procedure. Doctors drilled two holes in his lower back, inserted two long needles and extracted the marrow.

According to a nurse at the hospital, typically donors give a teaspoon amount of marrow. Hostutler's nurse told him they withdrew more than three pints of marrow.

After the marrow was withdrawn, it was transplanted to the teenager.

Hostutler recovered within a few days, which he considered a small price to pay.

"I literally gave a piece of myself to someone else," Hostutler said. "That small piece of me might actually help to save this kid's life. I can't explain to you how that feels. I'd do it again in a heartbeat."

Some may consider Hostutler a hero for what he did, others, as a guy whose actions were simply the product of coincidence.

He sees himself as neither, but as someone playing a role in a divine plan. He feels his relationship with God has strengthened since the procedure.

"I have noticed I say a different kind of prayer now," he said. "I'm more thankful than wishful. This whole experience was a blessing."

After the procedure, Hostutler took annual leave and the couple traveled to Minnesota to meet members of Shaunlee's family. They returned to San Antonio several days later. On the morning they were to visit Shaunlee's mother in Austin, the couple discovered that there would be an addition to their newly formed family, or as Hostutler puts it, the "latest blessing" of the story.

Hostutler said he has grown personally and has adopted a wider perspective on life and the effects of his decisions.

"I've learned a small action can change a lot," he said. "What if I hadn't done that? What if I hadn't put my name on that roster and got that cotton swab in my mouth? I might not be married right now. I might not have a kid on the way. It gave me an opportunity to really help someone."

Hostutler never met the bone marrow recipient and doesn't even know his name or where he is from, but he is hopeful they will meet one day.

The decision to meet face-to-face rests in the teenager's hands.

"Either way, I'm really happy about the way things turned out. I never thought this could have turned out to affect so many people in so many ways," he said. "I never thought a life could possibly be saved and a marriage and a child could be created, all from a cotton swab."

Ellie