Why I saved a life, and how you can too
By Maggie Kleiner
Saving a life was not on my bingo card for 2025, and yet this March I donated my peripheral stem cells to cure someone’s blood cancer through the organization Gift of Life.
I first heard about Gift of Life in 2021 from a campus ambassador at my previous school, Connecticut College. She explained that the nonprofit connects cancer patients in need of a transplant with potential donors and assured me that the entire process was voluntary. With just a quick and painless cheek swab, I was in Gift of Life’s donor database for life.
To my surprise, I got a message in December 2024 that I was a potential match for a cancer patient. For anonymity purposes, the only things I knew about the patient were that he was a 71-year-old male with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Even these sparse details were enough to convince me to donate my stem cells. I decided to call him “Albert” and visualized his story. Maybe he was a musician. Maybe he was someone’s grandpa. Certainly, he was a person deserving of a second chance.
After several rounds of testing, including blood samples, a physical exam and a mental assessment, it was confirmed in February 2025: I was a match and I was set to donate the next month.
For five days leading up to the donation, I was administered injections of Filgrastim, a drug used to increase the amount of stem cells in your body. I will not pretend to totally understand it, but it was relatively painless and very effective. Then on March 29, I was whisked away to Gift of Life’s headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida. Gift of Life set me and my mom up in a swanky hotel in Delray Beach where we were in awe of the great food and amenities.
If you’re hesitant about donating, the accommodations alone are a great motivator, just saying.
On my donation date, I was filled to the brim with excitement, nervousness and gratitude. Each staff member was overwhelmingly kind and made sure that I was comfortable. I was administered my last dose of Filgrastim and given an IV. The IV drew my blood from one arm, filtered out the stem cells through a machine and then returned the remaining blood to my other arm. Interestingly, my stem cells looked nothing like how I expected. I suppose I was picturing little tadpoles jellies, but they actually looked like “grapefruit juice” in the words of my nurse.
It has now been almost a month since I donated, and I already feel like the process has changed my life. It is funny because even though I do not know “Albert” — or whatever his actual name is — I feel intrinsically connected to him. I often think of his family and friends who had to grapple with the fact that he might not have survived, and I hope that my donation has given them hope. I will not know about Albert’s condition for another five months, and I will not be able to talk to him for another six. Regardless, I can at least relax a little knowing that I did everything I could for him.
When I tell people about my experience now, many ask me why I chose to donate. After my friend passed away in October 2024, I thought about how I would do anything to go back in time and save him. The truth is, I cannot. But I can do the next best thing and save someone else.
If you are physically able, I implore you to add yourself to Gift of Life’s registry. It is quick, free and totally voluntary; you can get started right on the organization’s website. You can remove yourself any time, and if you are identified as a potential match you can still choose not to donate. It might sound scary, but I cannot think of anything more meaningful than saving a life.
Maggie Kleiner is a senior graphic design major
