More than 250 donors, recipients, volunteers, and supporters attended the annual Celebrating Life New York City held at Sony Hall on March 5, 2025. The party was organized by the New York Young Professionals Committee and honors the outstanding members of our Gift of Life community.

The most memorable moment of the event came when 32-year-old Brittany Lerman was invited to share her experience as a donor. Unbeknownst to her, Carol Kriebel, a 64-year-old survivor of myelogenous leukemia thanks to a transplant of Brittany’s blood stem cells, was also in the audience.

Brittany was surprised and thrilled when Carol was invited to the stage, and the pair shared an emotional, tear-filled hug. Donors and recipients must remain anonymous for the first year after the transplant, so this meeting was incredibly special for them both. 

“I just want everyone to know how important it is to join the registry,” said Carol as she stood hand-in-hand on stage with Lerman. “Thank you so much, Brittany, for saving my life.”

Carol had been diagnosed with leukemia in March 2023 after going to the emergency room for a severe upper respiratory infection that would not go away. She was shocked when she learned she needed a stem cell transplant, but luckily, her matching donor Brittany was already in the registry.

Brittany joined the marrow registry in 2011 at a Hillel recruitment drive on the Syracuse University campus, and donated stem cells at Gift of Life’s Adelson Collection Center only four months after Carol’s diagnosis.

“It boggles my mind that I swabbed my cheek 13 years ago and it has now had such a profound effect on Carol’s life,” said Brittany. “We all have a role to play in this lifesaving cause.”

Want to become a lifesaver like Brittany? Anyone 18 to 35 years old and in good health can join the registry by ordering a kit online to be sent to your home, or completing a cheek swab kit at an in-person drive!