For Morgan, who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, or ALL, receiving Ben’s blood stem cells was the catalyst to her recovery and a second chance at living a healthy life.  When asked about her feelings for her daughter’s donor, Morgan’s mother Ame responded, “I am so thankful that someone unselfishly gave their time and marrow.  I don’t think there can ever be enough words to thank someone for giving you another chance at a lifetime of birthdays with your child.”

According to the standards established by the international governing body, that are followed by the Gift of Life registry, both donor and recipient remained completely anonymous and adhered to a period of at least one-year post-transplant prior to meeting one another.  Before that time, the donor was only told the gender, age and diagnosis of his recipient.  Now, after seeing each other face-to-face, Ben and Morgan have a bond that will always remain between them.

There is an urgent need to increase the number of potential donors in the world-wide registries so that all patients have an equal opportunity to receive a life-saving transplant.  With targeted donor recruitment efforts, Gift of Life has greatly improved the chances that patients will find genetically matched donors through its registry of over 170,000 potential donors.

For more information about how you can be tested and join with the Gift of Life registry, or to make a tax-deductible contribution, visit our website at www.giftoflife.org or call 1-800-9MARROW.