Life-saving Baltimore stem cell donor meets 9-year old recipient – Patch.com

See video of emotional encounter, via Gift of Life Marrow Registry, HERE

(Starts at 15:37) Video credit: Gift of Life Marrow Registry

NEW YORK, Sept. 20 A life-saving Baltimore, Md., blood stem cell donor met his transplant recipient, a Philadelphia, Pa., boy, for the very first time in an emotional ceremony at Gift of Life Marrow Registry's One Huge Night Gala in New York City on September 17.

Gregory Mitchell, 30, a financial advisor, donated stem cells last year to Marcus Haggins, 9, who was battling Severe Aplastic Anemia, until receiving his transplant. Mitchell joined Gift of Life's registry during a 2012 donor recruitment drive at an Atlantic City, N.J. cultural festival.

"My life became more meaningful the day I donated," Mitchell said, calling his joining the registry a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. "By joining Gift of Life, you might get lucky enough to have the opportunity to step up to the plate for someone who needs you the most. You might be lucky enough to know how great it feels to donate to someone. You might even get lucky enough to know how great it feels to meet such a brave person."

Haggins' mother, Kim Kennedy, said that "you don't know how much this means to me to give me my son back. Thank God we didn't lose Marcus." Referring to Gift of Life and Mitchell, said added that "they saved my son's life. You are my angel. There is no greater gift than life. None."

Due to medical anonymity laws, donors and recipients must wait at least one year before meeting.

Since its start in 1991, Gift of Life Marrow Registry has grown to more than 347,000 individuals who have volunteered to donate blood stem cells or bone marrow to save a life. To date, Gift of Life has facilitated over 16,600 matches for those with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell, and nearly 100 other diseases, resulting in more than 3,475 transplants

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Life-saving Baltimore stem cell donor meets 9-year old recipient - Patch.com