Even though the news cycle has been plagued with COVID-19 and protest-related content, we still need to take time to honor heroes in the midst of this crisis-laden year. A Columbus resident and former Ohio University linebacker is one of those heroes that we should be giving our full kudos at this time. In 2014, one of Grillot’s student coaches–who had leukemia–stressed the life-saving importance of joining a bone marrow and stem cell registry.

Earlier this year, a former college football player and current AEP Ohio line mechanic donated bone marrow to an 11-year-old boy.Before Cody Grilliot was an AEP lineman, he was a linebacker for the Ohio University football team. While playing for the Bobcats, one of his coaches - who had leukemia- gave a speech about the lifesaving potential of joining the Gift of Life bone marrow and stem cell registry. Grilliot filled out paperwork, got his mouth swabbed, and graduated in 2017.

The COVID-19 Pandemic may have put New York on Pause, but it won’t stop the Jewish Federation from honoring their 2020 Orange County Women of Valor. Eight women, one in each decade of life from teens to 80s, is being honored for their contributions to the community.

Benjamin has traveled to Israel five times and on the "Birthright" trip in December 2017 he and the entire group all agreed to have cheek swabs taken for the "Gift of Life" bone marrow registry organization. In January of this year the Gift of Life organization notified Benjamin that he came up as a potential match for a 59-year old woman suffering from Myeloid Leukemia and asked him if he would agree to have more testing done to see if in fact he was an exact match for this potential recipient.

Prior to April 7, Luke Kuechly had not tweeted — or retweeted for that matter — since July 2019. For most professional athletes in this era, that would be a long time. In his first tweet in nine months, he retweeted a video of himself sharing a message about the importance of getting on the list to be a bone marrow donor/

A Dighton boy who beat cancer twice celebrated his birthday in a special way Friday. Grant Medeiros, 5, watched on as more than 400 police cars, fire trucks, Mustangs and other vehicles passed by his house to celebrate his birthday. In 2018, Grant received a special escort home after his bone marrow transplant at Boston Children's Hospital. He battled acute myeloid leukemia twice and had to spend a year isolated in his home while he recovered.