Match Made in Heaven
Man who forgot about being a hero will meet the teen he saved
PHOENIX (April 23, 2010) – Jaime Wilson of Narragansett, R.I., said he did what any parent would do by agreeing to stick a cotton swab in his mouth and become a registered bone marrow donor for a sick child at his son’s school in 1998. But John and Gerri Richards of Phoenix say they will never forget his act of kindness.
Years later this stranger, from thousands of miles away, was the perfect bone marrow match for their teenage son Justin, who desperately needed a transplant.
Justin, along with the nurses and doctors at Banner Blood and Marrow Transplant Program located at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, will meet the man who saved this teen’s life. Jaime Wilson will meet Justin, as part of the hospital’s annual Celebration of Life event—celebrating cancer survivors and raising community awareness of the importance of bone marrow registry.
“For months the hospital couldn’t find a match,” said John Richard, Justin’s father. “We never imagined not finding a donor, but as the days went by, it became more realistic. We were scared. We’ve been waiting for a long time to say thank you and you saved all of our lives.”
Each year, thousands of people of all ages are diagnosed with leukemia and other life-threatening diseases. Many of them die unless they get a bone marrow or cord blood transplant from a matching donor. Seventy percent of people do not have a donor match in their family and depend on donations from a stranger. Richards, who is heading to University of Arizona next year with plans of becoming a pediatric oncologist, isn’t sure what he’ll say when he meets the man who saved his life.
“What it means for me to be meeting him is something that cannot be explained,” Justin Richards said. “There is nothing that I can say to this person for what he did for me. All you can keep saying is, 'Thank you.' Without him I wouldn’t even be here right now.”
Wilson, who is equally excited to meet Justin, wants everyone to know that they too have a chance to save a life – if they take the first step and join the bone marrow registry.
“This was science and fate,” Wilson said. “I’m no hero. It’s about showing up and doing the right thing. All we’re asking is for people to get a cotton swab in the cheek. Getting registered is an effortless thing to do – if people do it. A simple act can have a profound impact on another's life.”
Banner Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and Be The Match Registry will host two donor registration drives in the coming months—one in Lake Havasu in June and one at Banner Gateway Medical Center in September. For more information about the drives, call (602) 277-1002. For more information about marrow donation or to register as a donor online, visit www.marrow.org.
About Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been providing medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. Banner Good Samaritan is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a non-profit organization. The hospital was named to the 2009-’10 U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” list for Gynecology, Heart & Heart Surgery and Kidney Disorders. Banner Good Samaritan has been recognized as a Magnet™ facility by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor a hospital can earn for its nursing care and practices, and has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the Valley by The Phoenix Business Journal and BestCompaniesAZ in 2007 and 2008 and one of the “Top 100 Hospitals to Work For” by Nursing Professionals magazine.
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