The subject of this article, Ethan Pack, is a member of The Daily Universe staff. Pack had the opportunity to donate stem cells and work with the National Marrow Donor Program to help a patient with leukemia.

Ethan Pack, a student at BYU, recently donated stem cells to a patient with leukemia.

Pack said he signed up with the National Marrow Donor Programformerly known as Be The Match, in one of their booths on the BYU campus a year and a half ago but eventually forgot about the whole experience.

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Ethan Pack donates stem cells for the first time in Arizona. Pack was hooked up to an apheresis machine which separates the blood from the stem cells. (Courtesy of Ethan Pack)

He was surprised to hear back from the program in the spring of 2024. He said they alerted him he was a match for someone in need of a stem cell transplant.

“A couple months ago, I got a call,” Pack said. “They called me and left a voicemail like, ‘Hey, this is so-and-so from NMDP. You’re a match for somebody. We would like to find out if you’re willing to do this.’ And my first thought was like, ‘That’s interesting.’”

After Pack agreed to donate, he was flown out to Arizona for the transplant.

Pack described the experience as “a little vacation” and said the trip to Arizona was completely paid for. Pack said he even received compensation for missed work hours.

“You get reimbursed for everything except for entertainment,” Pack said. “Me and my mom went to a movie and we went to the zoo.”

While Pack’s trip and donation were successful, this is not always the result for patients waiting for a stem cell transplant.

Julianne Groseprofessor and associate vice president of belonging at BYU, said that when her brother-in-law was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2003, she and her family tested to see if they were potential donors, but no members of the family were a match.

“We did a lot of donor drives trying to find him a match,” Grose said. “He wasn’t able to find a match. No one matched well enough to donate. That’s why he passed away… His cancer was very curable with a stem cell transplant.”

Grose explained this experience with her family made stem cell transplants a very personal issue to her. She said it was one of the reasons she decided to study microbiology and molecular biology.

“There’s like 50 different diseases that this is used for,” Grose said when speaking about stem cell donations. “It’s just leukemia and lymphoma are the most common. The others are more rare.”

Grose also explained the need for more donors in the national registry saying that finding a match in a family is only a “one-third chance.”

“I also hope that we get better representation from different ethnicity groups in the registry,” Grose said. “Because right now, if you’re Caucasian, there’s mostly Caucasian donors. You have a higher chance.”

Grose encouraged students to consider signing up to be potential donors.

“I think one of the most amazing things that you could do is literally save someone’s life. And often you are that person’s only chance of life. You are their only match in the registry,” Grose said.

Organizations such as NMDP help individuals find donors and promote research for patients with blood cancers and disorders.

The NMDP’s website describes the process as being as simple as registering online, getting a cheek swab and then waiting to see if you are a match. Grose also said there will be recruiting booths on the BYU campus in mid-October.

“I do take it really personally because I lost my brother-in-law and you know, he could have been saved,” Grose said. “And I really don’t want that to happen to anybody else, because I think that there are so many people who are willing and they just don’t know about it.”

Individuals who are interested in donating can learn more and sign up at NMPD’s website.