Are you Chris’s lifesaving match? Order your swab kit and find out if you’re his hero!

Chris is a 43-year-old husband, father of two young children, and is a decorated hero of the British Royal Air Force, where he served as the pilot of a Chinook helicopter saving lives in Afghanistan. He and his family currently live in Los Angeles, where he is the director of a helicopter aviation firm.

Chris was recently diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia, a rare blood disorder with only one known cure: a blood stem cell transplant. He urgently needs a transplant but does not have a matching donor within his family and is turning to the donor registries for help in finding his lifesaver.

Because stem cell compatibility follows ancestry, for transplants to work, the donor and recipient must have matching immune factors called Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA).

Chris is half-Jamaican, which complicates his search, as only a small proportion of people in the worldwide registry are from a minority background.  His best chance of a match is with someone who shares similar ancestry.

This is where you come in!  You could be Chris’s lifesaving donor without realizing it. A potential donor could be anyone, but they cannot be found unless they join a registry.  All it takes is a swab of your cheek to learn if you are match for him or another patient in need.

When you swab your cheek to join Gift of Life, your personal data remains confidential.

There are three ways you can help Chris:

1. If you are between 18 and 35 years old and in general good health, click above on the blue Join Registry button to order a swab kit to be sent to your home today. Those 36+ are asked to please fund their kit processing. Join the registry, and you could be our next lifesaving donor!  
2. Each swab kit costs $60 in laboratory fees for testing, so if you click on the Give to Circle button, you can sponsor someone’s kit or give the amount of your choice. Every dollar matters.
3. Share this circle with others. Click on the gray Share button to post on Facebook or Twitter (now called X) or copy the link to share on other sites.

To the right, you’ll also see a button called “Subscribe.” Click there to get updates! Every time a match or a transplant sponsored by this circle happens, you’ll get a short email to let you know about our success.

More about Chris

Chris served in the Royal Air Force for 14 years, including five tours in Afghanistan. In 2013, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by Queen Elizabeth II after helping rescue 31 British and Afghan troops under enemy fire.  After shielding them with the helicopter itself, he airlifted them to safety despite having lost one engine. It is possible that exposure to chemicals during the war is a factor in him developing aplastic anemia now.

Today, Chris lives in Los Angeles with his wife Morgan and their two-year-old daughter, and they are expecting a baby boy.

“I have seen courage and leadership at their best; people stepping forward when others needed help,” he said. “It was something I tried to do wherever I could. Now I find myself needing help from others.” 

Please step up and help.