After watching his colleague, "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts, raise awareness about stem cell donation after undergoing a lifesaving bone marrow transplant, ABC News correspondent Trevor Ault decided to sign up for the registry that connects donors to patients.
Ault, who is based in California, applied for a donation kit and sent in a swab from his inner cheek to NMDP, a nonprofit organization that manages a global marrow registry.
A few months ago, Ault said he received an email from the NMDP with the subject line, "You're a match."
"What they've told me is that I'm a match for a middle aged man on the other side of the world who has bone cancer," Ault said in a segment about his donation that aired Tuesday on "Good Morning America." "Honestly, when I signed up for this registry, I didn't know that I would ever hear from them ever again, and this email out of the blue is a pleasant surprise, because we could get to do something pretty cool here, I think."
The email Ault received from NMDP kickstarted a process that resulted in him traveling from California to Seattle in November to donate his stem cell to a stranger.
Take the first step to sign up to become a bone marrow donor today. Visit my.nmdp.org/gma or text GMA to 61474 to request a swab kit.
As is standard protocol, Ault's travel expenses were covered by NMDP. The organization pays travel expenses and non-medical costs for all donors, as well as any medical expenses not covered by insurance, according to its website.
After undergoing health screenings and receiving a series of injections over five days to boost his body's stem cell production, Ault was ready to undergo the donation process.
He described the stem cell donation as a "relatively pain free" process that, for him, took less than three hours.
Ault donated peripheral blood stem cells, or PBSC, through apheresis, a non-surgical procedure in which blood is drawn from one arm, passed through a machine that separates the blood-forming cells and then the remaining blood is returned to the other arm, according to NMDP. The procedure is how 90% of donors provide stem cells.
The other method for donation is bone marrow, which takes place in a hospital and is typically a one-day procedure in which needles are used to withdraw liquid marrow from the back of the pelvic bone. The donor is typically in the hospital from early morning to late afternoon and most donors feel completely recovered within a week, according to NMDP.
Ault is sharing his story of stem cell donation in hopes of inspiring others to sign up for the NMDP registry. According to the organization, there is an urgent need for young, healthy and willing donors.
In the majority of cases, patients in need of bone marrow and stem cell transplants must rely on donations from strangers on the NMDP registry.
Take the first step to sign up to become a bone marrow donor today. Visit my.nmdp.org/gma or text GMA to 61474 to request a swab kit.
