McCauley among 'fortunate ones' in fight with leukemia (cont'd)

"We knew if I had to find an unrelated donor, the list didn't really hold a lot of hope for me," Amy said. "I know a lot of leukemia patients who are facing transplants that face that same issue. It's such a tricky thing to find a match for a transplant; it's like finding a needle in a haystack."

Amy's needle turned out to be her older brother, Mark.

As chemotherapy for Amy was wrapping up, Mark was having his bone marrow tested. Usually siblings have about a 25 percent chance of being a perfect match -- they share the same DNA as both parents -- and this looked like Amy's best and possibly only hope. She was cautious, though, and told her brother to be the same.

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It's critically important to give these patients a chance at life, and that's what marrow does. The thing about being a marrow donor that is so great, you are donating something that your body is going to give back to you. You're not losing anything.

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AMY MCCAULEY

"I didn't expect [Mark to be a match] at all. I didn't have my hopes pinned on it at all," Amy said. "In fact, I remember telling him don't get your hopes up."

Mark turned out to be perfect for his little sister. On Aug. 3, 2007, Mark gave Amy a second chance at life with a successful stem cell transplant.

Amy was one of the lucky ones. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, more than 10,000 Americans get life-threatening diseases that can only be cured with a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor. The patients do not have a family donor and transplant is their only hope for a cure.

"It's critically important to give these patients a chance at life, and that's what marrow does," Amy said. "The thing about being a marrow donor that is so great, you are donating something that your body is going to give back to you. You're not losing anything.

"The procedures for donating are extremely simple and so manageable. They're not major surgeries; it's not like donating an organ or anything of that nature. It sounds intimidating but it's really not. Once you kind of learn the basics of it, it's something that is very simple to do."

On Thursday NASCAR, The NASCAR Foundation, The Jimmie Johnson Foundation, The Hendrick Marrow Program and Nationwide Insurance are holding their third annual Blood and Marrow Drive across the country.

Twenty NASCAR tracks are open for people to come out, give blood and put their names on the bone marrow registry list. Some tracks make it an all-day affair with special events and giveaways. At Bristol, fans can drive their own cars on the famous .533-mile short track; at Daytona there will be live music and the Richard Petty Driving Experience will offer rides; and at Atlanta they are offering free pace car rides.

The NMDP says only 30 percent of patients in need of a marrow or blood cell transplant are like Amy and find a matched donor in their family. The other 70 percent may turn to the NMDP to search for an unrelated donor or cord blood unit, so it's vital to get as many options on the list as possible.

Now, more than year in remission, things are looking great for Amy. There are still a couple of hurdles to cross, like getting her immune system back up to speed and getting herself back physically 100 percent. She is completely healthy -- a wonderful sign for things to come, although she says, "it's still gonna take a little time before I'm feeling like my old self again."

There are many people whom Amy thanks for her recovery, but two stand out. Her brother Mark, for obvious reasons, and husband Roy, who walked away from the sport to be by her side.

"When the diagnosis was happening, it was hard for both of us because he was in Daytona and I was here so that was a challenge for both of us," Amy said. "As things progressed and he ended up coming off the road because things got more serious, in terms of my treatment, that was a big sacrifice for him to do that and it meant the world to me.

"There is no way I could ever, ever thank him for everything he did, including giving up his position as a crew chief to be there for me."

Amy is on the road to recovery and back at her job. Roy is back at Penske Racing as the crew chief for Ryan Newman and ironically won the Daytona 500 on the one-year anniversary of his wife's diagnosis. And Mark has his little sister alive and well.

Amy says she was fortunate, but others aren't. And that's why it is imperative people put their names on the list of marrow donors.

"If you can find an unrelated or outside donor that's a perfect match, your chances of recovery and the transplant being successful are so much greater," Amy said. "It's really the ideal treatment of a transplant situation, which again is why it's so critical to have people on the registry, because in a lot of these cases that's their best shot at regaining a normal, healthy life.

"The whole process is really, really simple and at any point the donor can say, 'You know what, I'm not at that point in my life that I can be a donor,' and that's fine. But just knowing that there is a chance out there for someone to regain their life through a marrow donation, I would hope would be enough motivation for people to sign up."