In January 2019, Matt was in Jerusalem while participating in Birthright Israel, a program that gives young Jewish adults a ten-day educational tour of Israel at no cost. Toward the end of the tour, a speaker from Gift of Life Marrow Registry came in to invite the participants to join the registry as a way of paying it forward, and possibly saving a life someday in the future. 

“A minor act for me was literally life or death for a fellow human,” said Matt. “It seemed like a no-brainer for me to swab.” 

Two years later, Matt’s opportunity to help someone arrived. 

“I was in my Manhattan apartment in spring 2021 when I got the call that I matched a patient, a woman in her early 50s battling Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia,” said Matt. “I was excited I was in a position to make a difference in someone’s life – and slightly nervous about the blood stem cell collection procedure, which was quickly alleviated by all the information Gift of Life gave me both over the phone and by email.” 

As a donor registry, our job is to make sure that donors feel comfortable and are given excellent care before, during, and after their donation. 

Matt told his immediate family and friends about donating, and said they were proud of him committing to the process. As he is an independent real estate agent, he was able to set his own schedule to travel to Gift of Life’s collection center in Boca Raton, Fla. 

“I traveled to Gift of Life with my cousin, James, for a five-day stay,” said Matt. “We enjoyed our time exploring the area between Delray Beach and Miami and had a very relaxing trip.” 

Donors do not incur any expenses related to the donation process; Gift of Life provides accommodations, travel, and a meal stipend. The “donation vacation” in Florida is our way of thanking donors for helping to save someone who is battling a life-threatening disease and has run out of other treatment options. 

Donating has made me feel more connected to humanity and more understanding of how important it is to help people, even if you have never met them before.

In the days leading up to donation, stem cell donors receive five injections of Neupogen, one a day, to stimulate the growth of more stem cells and to encourage the cells to move from the bone marrow into the circulating blood for collection. During the collection process, blood goes from one arm through the apheresis machine, where the stem cells are collected, with the rest being returned to the donor through the other arm. 

“This experience holds a very special place in my heart,” said Matt. “Gift of Life had enabled me to do something helpful for a person in need, and their generosity and accommodation through the donation process was incredible. Donating has made me feel more connected to humanity and more understanding of how important it is to help people, even if you have never met them before.” 

Although donors and recipients are not able to learn each other’s identities for the first year after the transplant, in the United States, if both parties agree they may exchange contact information or meet in person after that year passes. 

“I would love the opportunity to meet my recipient,” said Matt. “I so much hope that they are healing and on track to live a longer and healthier life.”

Matt would also like to see others have the chance to have the incredible experience of donating stem cells. 

“Being a donor is very easy and is 110% worthwhile,” he said. “It is a treat to be able to travel for free, and for the whole process to be so enjoyable. Between getting swabbed and placed in the registry, to matching with my recipient, and following through with the stem cell donation, it was honestly very easy and a pleasure throughout the experience. I feel it is very rewarding to know that my minor act may have saved the life of my recipient, and I want to thank Gift of Life and everyone on their staff for making it possible.” 

Matt, a 25-year-old resident of Long Island, N.Y., is a real estate agent in Nassau, Suffolk Counties, and Queens, N.Y. He attended Binghamton University where he earned his B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering and was president of the Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society chapter. In his free time, he enjoys spending time in nature, going boating, travelling both domestically and internationally, and spending time with his family and friends, including his cat, Sammy.