A little kindness can go a long way.
This was the case for St. Charles resident Nicholas Miranda-Newberry, 26, who signed up to be a bone marrow donor.
Miranda-Newberry and Elijah John, 18, finally met late last month and put names and faces to their relationship as donor and recipient. The two had an emotional reunion Aug. 26 at Pier 57, one of the largest gardens in New York City.
“It was nice to see the person who I was able to save and put a face to his name. It was nice to meet his mom, dad, and other family and how happy they were to see me,” Miranda-Newberry said.
In 2017, an ad for DKMS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping those with with cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, came up in Miranda-Newberry’s Facebook feed to find donors to help with blood disorders.
“I’ve always been the person to want to try to help anybody in any way I can,” Miranda-Newberry said. “So, I signed up, did a cheek swab and sent it in [to DKMS].”
In April 2021, the organization contacted Miranda-Newberry to let him know he was a match to then-14-year-old Elijah John of Brooklyn, New York.
John was diagnosed in November 2020 with acute myeloid leukemia. He underwent several months of treatment and the only solution was a bone marrow transplant.
“When I met Nicholas, I felt excited to put a face to the name, and it felt good to meet him,” John said.
Nearly 20,000 Americans need bone marrow transplants every year, according to the U.S. Department. of Health and Human Services. For many patients, like John, their last chance to beat blood cancers are from stem cell or bone marrow transplant.
As many as 70 percent of patients in need of a marrow transplant will not have a matched donor among their relatives, according to Tulio Rodriguez, an oncologist and director of the hematology, bone marrow transplant and cellular therapy program at City of Hope Chicago.
“Their probability of finding a donor through the National Marrow Donor Program [depends] on their ethnicity,” Rodriguez said, “It goes from 29% percent to 79%. That’s why it’s so important to increase the number of registered donors among minorities.”
DKMS registers potential stem cell donors in the global donor pool. If a donor is found to be a match for a patient in need, they will be contacted by DKMS, which facilitates the donation process.
“All they said was that there was a match and that they had to do more testing to make sure it was a match,” Miranda-Newberry said. “There was a 0.01[%] chance of getting matched for bone marrow, so I thought it was cool that I was able to get a match.”
There are two ways stem cells are harvested, both procedures are considered painless. One procedure involves separated stem cells from regular blood cells. The other procedure involves extracting stem cells, usually from a donor’s hip bone.
Miranda-Newberry’s stem cells were collected in July 2021. He described the procedure as painless with some slight discomfort during the recovery period.
“Marrow cells were collected from the backside of my pelvic bone using a special syringe,” Miranda-Newberry said. “Following my transplant, I did experience some discomfort, but I was able to get through the whole process.”
Miranda-Newberry urged anyone who has thought about donating blood or bone marrow to give it a try.
“My advice is to be willing to help anyone in any way and you should go for it,” Miranda-Newberry said. “I would absolutely do it again.”