Midfielder Tevlin making a big save
Sophomore donating bone marrow after being identified as a match
NEW HAVEN — Brian Tevlin signed up for the national bone marrow donor registry as a high school junior after witnessing the importance of the program to those in need.
Lisa Mottesi, the mother of his best friend, Nico, was suffering through leukemia and nearly out of options. She required a transplant to survive. No potential donors were identified until a call at the 11th hour. A match was found. Her life was saved.
“One match out of millions had come forward,” said Tevlin, now a sophomore midfielder on the Yale men’s lacrosse team. “The cause hit close to home. They were an inspiration to me.”
Tevlin soon joined millions of others on the Be the Match Registry in the hopes of one day helping someone in a dire situation. But his desire to assist would be put to the test. When his phone rang last month, 30 minutes before Yale’s first practice of the season, he was hesitant due to bad timing.
The registry identified him as a match. If willing, he could donate bone marrow in about a month. Recovery from the surgery would take at least three weeks. Tevlin, a sophomore midfielder, had been a key
contributor for the Bulldogs as a freshman, even scoring a goal against Duke in the national championship game.
Missing three weeks starting in mid-March meant Tevlin would miss at least four games — a sizable chunk of the lacrosse season. As it stood Yale was ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls. His role on the team during its title defense would be even more prominent.
But the more he considered things, the choice became clear.
“I put myself in the other person’s shoes,” Tevlin said. “They’d told me it was a male in his 50s, and I thought God forbid if that was my father, and there was a college kid who only had to give up a couple of games for him to live. It seemed like a no-brainer when I said it to myself like that.”
Most bone marrow donors complete the process with a plasma infusion and blood draw, a nonsurgical method with a speedy recovery time. Based on the patient’s needs, a small percentage of donors undergo surgery to extract bone marrow. A needle is plunged into both sides of the pelvic bone.
Because the patient in need requires bone marrow, Tevlin undergoes the surgical process Wednesday at a hospital near his home in Livingston, New Jersey.
The most common side effects are back and hip pain and fatigue, with the median recovery time 20 days, Tevlin says, depending on one’s pain tolerance.
“It’s a little scary,” Tevlin said. “Being out here all the time lifting and shooting, I have enough lower back problems as it is. But they’re not cutting anything open, just going in with a needle, so I’m not too worried.”
Tevlin has become one of Yale’s best midfielders this spring. After recording three points in the first
three games, he’s kicked things up a notch the past two weeks.
He set career bests of four goals and six points in a win over Michigan in Atlanta on March 10. During Saturday’s relatively easy 16-11 win over then-No. 3 Cornell, he was again one of the best players on the field. His two goals and two assists all came in a decisive second period that allowed Yale to put the game away.
“He’s really starting to understand who he can be,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “And he does so many good things for us. It’s going to be a huge hole. But it’s the right thing to do. We’re proud of him. Hopefully, it will galvanize us to play better without him.”
Yale, ranked third in the nation, will definitely be without Tevlin for Saturday’s game at Princeton. He’ll likely miss next Tuesday’s home game with Air Force and a March 30 game at Penn.
If recovery goes according to plan, his return could be either April 6 against Dartmouth or April 13 against Brown, plenty of time before the postseason begins in early May.
Of course, the Bulldogs have more than enough talent and depth at midfield to cover for Tevlin no matter how long he’s out of the lineup. That’s not to say his absence will be felt in multiple ways by teammates, who are fully behind his decision.
“When it comes to something like that, I mean, lacrosse means as much to me as anyone, but he’s helping save a life,” Yale junior faceoff specialist T.D. Ierlan said. “You can’t ever fault a guy for doing that. He’s passionate about everything that he does. Collectively, we’re going to miss him on the field. But we’ll miss him off the field even more.”
Said freshman attacker Matt Brandau, “Tevlin is such a great kid, and this speaks to his character.”