HERMITAGE

Kristin Perry has just performed a selfless good deed -- but she doesn't know who it's for.

Three weeks ago, Ms. Perry, 26, donated bone marrow to be transplanted into a sick patient.

All she knows about the patient is he's a 16-year-old boy with leukemia.

Although this is the first time she's donated, Ms. Perry has been a registered bone marrow donor since 1991, when she was a freshman at then Kennedy Christian High School. She, along with the rest of her family, registered in a local bone marrow drive.

But Ms. Perry was not contacted until four years later, when she was a sophomore in college.

"I got a call that I was a possible match for someone. I went through a round of testing and ended up not being a match," she said.

She was contacted again about two months ago and was found to be a complete match for the leukemia patient.

Ms. Perry donated at Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh through a "very painful" procedure. Her bone marrow was collected through four incisions in her lower back and hip socket.

"They told me it was going to be painful and I would have trouble walking, but the reality of it was just so much more than I imagined," she said.

When asked if it was all worth the pain and discomfort, Ms. Perry responded, "Absolutely."

"The pain will fade, but what I did for this boy will give him a lot more time in his life than he would have had," she said.

Donors and patients must keep a one-year anonymity period after the transplant. After that, Ms. Perry can consent to contact from the family.

Ms. Perry, who lives in Pittsburgh, is the daughter of Ruth Perry of Hermitage and the late James Perry. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1999.