After seeing his colleague, the co-anchor of “Good Morning America” Robin Roberts, Raise Awareness About Stem Cell Donation After Life-Saving bone marrow transplant, ABC News correspondent Trevor Ault decided to sign up for the registry that connects donors with patients.
Alt, who lives in California, applied for a donation kit and sent a swab from his inner cheek to NMDP, a non-profit organization that manages the global marrow registry.
A few months ago, Ault said he received an email from NMDP with the subject line, “You are a match.”
ABC News
“They told me I’m the equivalent of a middle-aged person on the other side of the world who has bone cancer,” Ault said in a segment about his donation that aired Tuesday on “Good Morning America.” “To be honest, when I signed up for this registry, I didn’t know I’d ever hear from them again, and all of a sudden this email is a pleasant surprise, because I think we might have something really cool going on here.”
The email Alt received from NMDP began a procedure that resulted in her traveling from California to Seattle in November to donate her stem cells to a stranger.
Take the first step today to sign up to become a bone marrow donor. visit my.nmdp.org/gma Or text GMA to 61474 to request a swab kit.
As is standard protocol, Alt’s travel expenses were covered by NMDP. The organization pays travel expenses and non-medical costs for all donors, as well as any medical expenses not covered by insurance. According to its website.
After passing health checks and receiving a series of injections over five days to boost his body’s stem cell production, Ault was ready to undergo the donation process.
He described stem cell donation as a “relatively pain-free” process, which took less than three hours for him.
According to NMDP, Alt donated peripheral blood stem cells or PBSCs through apheresis, a non-surgical procedure in which blood is removed from one arm, passed through a machine that separates the blood-forming cells and then the remaining blood is returned to the other arm. The process is how 90% of donors provide stem cells.
The second method of donation is bone marrow, which takes place in a hospital and is usually a one-day procedure in which needles are used to extract liquid marrow from the back of the pelvic bone. The donor usually stays in the hospital from early morning to late afternoon and most donors feel completely recovered within a week. According to NMDP.
Alt is sharing his story of stem cell donation in hopes of inspiring others to sign up for the NMDP registry. According to the organization, there is an urgent need for young, healthy and willing donors.
In most cases, patients requiring bone marrow and stem cell transplants have to rely on donations from strangers on the NMDP registry.
Take the first step today to sign up to become a bone marrow donor. visit my.nmdp.org/gma Or text GMA to 61474 to request a swab kit.
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