In March 2014, Rob Brouillette was a senior at the University of Maryland when some of his friends invited him to go to TerpThon, an annual 12-hour dance marathon to benefit children’s health causes. He wasn’t sure that dancing for a half a day sounded like fun, but it turned out to be awesome. At the event Rob was asked by a Gift of Life Marrow Registry drive volunteer to swab his cheek and join the Gift of Life registry. He did, and then promptly forgot about it and went on with his life.

Fourteen months later, Rob received multiple phone calls in an afternoon from a number in Florida while he was at work. At first he thought it was a telemarketer, but the calls kept coming. Finally, he got a chance to call back, and he reached Gift of Life. They told him he was a match for a 20-year-old man who was extremely sick, and asked if he would be able to donate bone marrow as soon as possible.

“Of course I told them yes,” said Rob. “I started getting ready to donate – including eating about 30 steaks in two weeks to get my iron count up!” All joking aside, two weeks after receiving the call, he was on his way to the donation center at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

“Things went back to normal for me pretty quickly, but I kept thinking about my recipient,” said Rob. “We were allowed to write to each other, but you can’t include any information that might reveal your identity or location [due to federal regulations] so our letters were edited pretty heavily.”

Photo: (left) Gift of Life GWU Campus Ambassador Caroline Bello had the honor of introducing donor Rob (center left) to his recipient Charlie (center right). Gift of Life Chairman Bill Begal (right) spoke to attendees at the event about the organization’s mission to find a lifesaving transplant donor for every patient who needs one.

Meanwhile, across the country in Seattle, Wash., a young man had been fighting for his life. Jessie Charles Hoff, who goes by Charlie, had a long history of mysterious illnesses. He went to many doctors, but no diagnosis was found.

Eventually his family abandoned their home in Bozeman, Mont. to move near the Seattle Children’s Hospital, where he could receive specialized care. Yet, by early 2015, Charlie’s condition was deteriorating and it became clear that the only hope for him was a bone marrow transplant. As often happens, none of his siblings were a match, so his doctors reached out to the public registries.

A match was found in Rob, and things began moving as fast as possible. “I always had hope, I had to have hope that my donor would be found, I didn’t have any other choice,” said Charlie.

When Rob and Charlie finally met in person on September 25, 2016 in Washington, D.C., it was a moment for high emotions and tears of joy as the two simply hugged each other. They quickly found they have much in common: a love of Taco Bell and Hip-Hop music – and as with many transplant recipients, Charlie has taken on some of Rob’s physical quirks, like his allergy to cats and his love of spicy food.

“Now I can live to grow old and watch my children become beautiful people,” said Charlie. “Rob has actually given me a second chance at life, the single most important moment! Instead of staring at hospital room walls I can step outside and smell fresh air. For once I can feel real, even normal.”

Rob and Charlie plan to stay in touch, and both have bright futures to look forward to. Rob says that being a donor has been an amazing experience, and that anyone who ever gets a chance to donate bone marrow or stem cells should do it.