Since 2020, the NHL Nashville Predators hockey team has partnered with Gift of Life Marrow Registry to facilitate introductions between blood cancer patients and the stem cell and marrow donors who saved their lives. Donors and recipients are total strangers and must remain so for the first post-transplant year, so their opportunity to meet in person is an emotional and heartwarming moment. Events like these are often held during Hockey Fights Cancer month, to help bring awareness to the need for more donors so that every person can find a match.

This meeting on November 9, 2024, was especially meaningful to the Predators, as transplant recipient and cancer survivor Adam Guess is a resident of Nashville, Tenn. 

Adam, 39, was first diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia in March 2022, after experiencing a number of unusual health issues, including hearing loss, vertigo, vision loss and prolonged bruising. The vertigo interfered with his work, and a visit to his doctor yielded the devastating diagnosis of blood cancer, with a stem cell transplant recommended as his best chance of a cure.

“I had just proposed to my wife five months prior, and all I could think of was marrying her before anything happened,” said Adam. “I had heard how difficult a stem cell transplant can be for the recipient, so I knew I needed to approach this with great strength.”

Adam was fortunate: only five months before his diagnosis, his matching donor, Andrew Misura, had joined Gift of Life’s registry. Andrew was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at The Ohio State University, and when the fraternity held a donor recruitment drive with Gift of Life’s Campus Ambassadors, he thought it was a good cause and completed a cheek swab kit.

Only three months later he was notified he matched a patient in urgent need of a stem cell transplant.

“As I thought more and more about it, I grew more and more excited,” said Andrew. “I told my mom and my girlfriend and even though they were both really surprised (I hadn’t mentioned I’d joined the registry) they were extremely supportive and happy for me.”

Andrew’s stem cells were collected in April 2023 at Gift of Life’s Adelson Collection Center in Boca Raton, Fla., and sent by courier to Adam’s transplant doctors in Nashville.

“The greatest blessing in all this was my proximity to the hospital,” said Adam. “I relocated from St. Louis to Nashville in 2018, and there I was able to walk to every one of my appointments. Once I was discharged, I went to my own home instead of a medical facility apartment, since it was so close by, and, as I got my strength back, I continued walking to my appointments.”

With the required year of anonymity expiring in 2024, the two were invited to meet in person during a Nashville Predators game.

As the announcer shared Adam’s story, Andrew emerged from the breezeway behind him and the two men hugged with emotion and joy. 

“I want more people to donate,” said Adam. “I want them to understand how much stem cell therapy has progressed. I also want other people going through this experience to know that they can do it.”

“I was so excited to meet Adam,” said Andrew. “I learned he’s a chef and I can’t wait to try his cooking. I also want to tell everyone to join the registry. I loved my donation experience and feel that every patient should have the opportunity to receive this incredible treatment.”

Andrew, 22, is a resident of Chicago, Ill. and a graduate of The Ohio State University, where he is a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He now works as an Enterprise Resource Planning System consultant. He enjoys spending time with his friends and playing video games.

Adam, 39, is married to Monica and they live in Nashville, Tenn. He has an Associate of Culinary Arts degree and is a head chef. He also enjoys gardening and says he truly loves to cook and does it every day that he can.