A high school principal in New Jersey died after donating bone marrow to a boy in France earlier this year.
Westfield Mayor Shelly Brindle confirmed the death of Westfield High School Principal Derrick Nelson on the township’s website and her Facebook page Monday.
“He was a man of immense character and kindness, and his legacy will live on in the generations of students whose lives he touched,” wrote Brindle.
Nelson’s family told NJ.com that the 44-year-old educator never regained consciousness after donating bone marrow in February. His father, Willie Nelson, said his son never spoke again.
Nelson’s family kept a vigil at Hackensack University Hospital, according to the NJ.com story, but he never came out of his coma.
Nelson is being remembered as “a gift” to the high school and town community.
“As a committed educator he understood that he was a role model at all times,” Westfield Superintendent of Schools Margaret Dolan said Tuesday during a news conference. “He knew he was a role model for students, for the staff and for his colleagues and he never forgot that. He was a good man.”
Dolan said Nelson, a Plainfield resident who died Sunday, had a strong moral compass that was evident as he worked with staff, and even when dealing with challenging issues involving students.
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Bone marrow donation is considered extremely low-risk, the Washington Post reports, with just 2.4% of donors experiencing serious complications. “His last kind and generous act on this earth in giving so someone else might live is a true testament to who he was and how he should always be remembered,” said Nelson’s fiancee in a statement.
Nelson found out he was a match for the boy, who lives in France, after being contacted by the National Marrow Donor Program’s Be the Match. He told the student newspaper that due to sleep apnea he developed during his time in the military, it would be too dangerous to put him under general anesthesia, and since he’s a carrier for sickle cell anemia, doctors also couldn’t harvest stem cells intravenously. Ultimately, he was put under local anesthesia as doctors extracted the bone marrow.
Praying that he is living in Our Lord, and for peace for his loved ones.
That’s just terrible. Like the article said, that was a low risk procedure, but any time you go under sedation it’s risky.
RIP
he had local anesthesia.
weird
Very sad.
God speed.
Just a guess, but maybe some if the marrow got into his bloodstream while withdrawing the needle leading to a stroke?
A terrible example of no good turn going unpunished. Sincere condolences to his family.
“…never regained consciousness…”
generally speaking, one would not intentionally lose consciousness while under the influence of a local anesthetic. Given the nature of the procedure, there might have been a nerve block administered with, or as, the anesthesia, if it was not ‘general.’. He did have a pre-existing problem of apnea. I’d suspect there were also other medications given to achieve a conscious sedation, and that is probably where the problem started.
I’d be interested in knowing from where the harvesting was done, and where the ‘local’ anesthetic was given. Was it from the sternum?
It is too bad, what ever happened.
Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
What an awful, tragic end, to a beautiful story. I’m so very sorry for his family, friends and community. He was a veteran and it sounds like he was great guy. It also sounds like there is more to the story, medically. I’m with Diane, it would be interesting to read his chart. Anesthesia declined to give him General, related to his comorbidities. They mention that he had a local, but I bet he also had conscience sedation, of some sort. Did he get too much? Did his pressure drop too low, for an extended period of time, and his brain not get perfused? Lots of variables. If family pursues, I bet the settlement will be out of court, and sizable.
Requiescat in Pace Mr Nelson. As stated above, Godspeed to you.
“Speaking the truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act.” Geo. Orwell
The more I live the less I trust doctors. I just bought a documentary called Root Cause because it was recently banned on YouTube. Ain’t nobody gonna keep information from me. That movie is an eye opener that the American Dental Association doesn’t want anyone to know about.
Did they harvest the rest of his organs after they killed him while taking the bone marrow?
Quite a guy.
RIP PrinciPAL! Honor knows no color.
I’m guessing he is a Christian and a God believer. Always doing the right thing.
@ Pushy Galore. I concur. 25 yrs as an RT taught me to question everything.
God Speed sir, you took the high road.
A truly sad story. May this hero rest in peace forever and Dod grants forever peace to his family. Amen.