After ordering a donor kit online and swabbing to join Gift of Life’s registry shortly after her son was born in 2018, Kenya didn’t think any more about it. That was until she received a message from Gift of Life in June 2022 telling her she was a match for a man in his mid-30s battling lymphoma, whose best chance for a cure was a blood stem cell transplant. 

“I got a call and missed it,” said Kenya, “I was finishing work. I saw a text message earlier that day but was dropping my kids off. Later, I was standing in line at Starbucks getting a drink when I read through the message and it said, ‘You swabbed and you’ve been matched!’” 

After reading the text, Kenya reached out to her friends and family. “I called my best friend and told her, then I called my mom, and I knew I had to do it,” said Kenya. “If I’m a match and if I can save someone’s life, then that’s something I need to do.” And, after a blood test to confirm that Kenya was a match for her patient, she was on her way to donating. 

For the four days before stem cell collection, donors receive a shot of Neupogen each day to help mobilize the cells into the circulating blood for collection. The fifth and final shot is given just before donating. A nurse was sent each day to Kenya’s home to administer the shots. For some patients, Neupogen can make them feel very achy. This was the case for Kenya, but like most donors, she found that Tylenol helped. 

With something like cancer, you know that the people who look like you, who have the same experience as you, who have the same culture as you, those are the people you are helping.

On the day of her donation, a car service was sent to pick up Kenya and bring her to the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Gift of Life – Be The Match Collection Center in Boca Raton, Fla. 

“The donation was really easy,” Kenya said of the experience. “It was a bit more sedentary than I was expecting. My husband Jared came with me, and he worked while I watched Netflix. The donation took three and a half hours. Within days after donating I felt back to normal. I was really happy to be there – it was a really positive experience.” 

Kenya feels proud to have donated. “It’s not every day that you do something you know is potentially going to save someone’s life,” she said. “So even with the apprehension I had about the process, just knowing that I helped my recipient is a sobering feeling for me. I was really grateful that I signed up to be on the registry and went through the process.  My recipient is a 35-year-old man, only a few years older than me and I believe that he has a family so we’re not that far apart. My personal model is to be the change, so if I could do one thing to help somebody, or give a couple hours of my time to help somebody, it was absolutely worth it.” 

It's also important that Kenya joined the registry as 75% of the Black community cannot find a matching donor in the worldwide registry. The reason matches are so difficult to find for these patients is because their genetic heritage is underrepresented in the registry. 

Kenya thinks that the disparity in numbers comes from distrust. “I think it’s easy to mistrust the medical community, especially after history has proven time and time again it’s not always the best institution for us,” said Kenya. “However, with something like cancer, you know that the people who look like you, who have the same experience as you, who have the same culture as you, those are the people you are helping. If you can do anything to help your neighbor, help your brother, help your sister you should. In our community we call each other bro, we call each other sis, these are who we are, these are our people. We are linked by our DNA, and we truly need to help one another.” 

Kenya urges people to learn more about the marrow registry. “I get the apprehension, but I think it’s worth looking past that and reaching out,” said Kenya. “Reach out to other black donors and ask them about their experience and how they feel and how they were treated. I loved my donation process. The staff was really excellent, everyone was really knowledgeable, but just reach out and find out what the process is before you automatically turn your cheek.” 

Kenya, 31, is a damage adjuster for Geico. She attended Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla. She is happily married to her husband Jared, and together they have two children, a five-year-old son and a one-year-old girl. Kenya enjoys reading and spending time at the park and on the beach, but is always in mom mode. 
 

Click here to visit our Diversity page and learn more about the urgent need for Black and African American donors to join the registry and donate if found as a match for a patient, to help save patients who share a genetic heritage. 

If you'd like to join the registry, click here to order a swab kit and start the registration process. 

Kenya's swab kit was sponsored by the LionTree Donor Circle.