Original published date: 1/3/2025

As Shanon walked across her college campus, she spotted a friend signing people up to join the NMDP Registry^SM as potential blood stem cell donors. When she heard she could possibly save a life, it was a no brainer for her to sign up.

About a year later, she got a call. What she heard wasn't that she was a match for one patient. Instead, Shanon was a potential match through NMDP BioTherapies^SM  for a cell therapy study where she could impact the lives of dozens—or even hundreds—of patients.

It turned out she wasn't eligible for that study, but her story with NMDP BioTherapies didn't end there. A few years later she got another call, and this time, the result was different. She became part of something truly groundbreaking. 

NMDP BioTherapies gives registry members, like Shanon, another way to impact lives beyond donating cells for a patient who needs a blood stem cell transplant to treat a blood cancer, like leukemia, or blood disorder, like sickle cell disease. NMDP BioTherapies helps find donors for organizations that are creating new cell and gene therapies to treat blood cancers, blood disorders or other diseases, like multiple sclerosis.

What's different about these new treatments is that one blood cell donation could be turned into a personalized treatment for one patient or many doses that can help dozens of patients. Most of these therapies are still being studied in clinical trials. That means NMDP BioTherapies donors are crucial to helping develop new or improved treatments. 

As a neuroscience major in college, Shanon knew how important clinical trials and research are to advancing treatments for patients. When she found out she had the opportunity to be an NMDP BioTherapies donor for a clinical trial, she didn't hesitate to say, "Yes."

"It's important to participate because it's the best way to fuel cancer research. I loved the idea of contributing to research. I had full faith in NMDP BioTherapies," Shanon says.

Each donation process may look a little different, but for Shanon, it included a blood test to make sure she was eligible to participate and a physical exam to make sure it was safe for her to donate. She had five days of injections to get ready for a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation. 

"The injections themselves didn't hurt. There was some discomfort after, but I was able to go to work, walk around, all the things that I normally do," she shares.

Then, on the fifth day, she donated her cells in New York City.

"[NMDP BioTherapies] flew me and my mom to New York City and I donated my PBSCs at the New York Blood Center," Shanon says, adding, "It was the easiest thing to do. It was a really great experience—20 out of 10 would do it again!"

Shanon encourages other registry members who get the call to be an NMDP BioTherapies donor to consider the difference they'll make.

"You have to meet specific requirements, so if you get that call or that text message or that email, it means that you have such a rare opportunity to make a big impact in this world. Why would you say no to that?" she says.

Discover how NMDP Registry members can multiply their odds of helping patients through NMDP BioTherapies.