Stranger Donates Stem Cells In Hopes Of Curing New York Woman With Leukemia

CBS New York (con't)

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) A New York woman battling leukemia was especially grateful this Thanksgiving, as she credited the kindness of a total stranger with helping save her life.

They found the donor, and it was just basically like a weight lifted off my shoulders, said Jeanine Walsh, 38.

As CBS2s Dr. Max Gomez reported Thursday, Walsh the mother of two young children has been battling leukemia for the second time in two years.

I was in total and complete shock, she said.

No members of Walshs family were a match for her, but a willing donor was found through the national registry. Peripheral stem cells were collected from the donor, located in the Western U.S., earlier this week.

The process took just a few hours.

We attach the patient, that is the donor, to a machine. The machine takes blood form the donor, filters out the stem cells if you will, and returns the rest of the blood to the donor, said Dr. Michael Schuster, director of stem cell transplantation at Stony Brook University Hospital.

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Stranger Donates Stem Cells In Hopes Of Curing New York Woman With Leukemia