In 1995, a man from Urbandale, Iowa, decided to register as a marrow donor with the Iowa Marrow Donor Program. The Iowa Marrow Donor Program is a donor center for the National Marrow Donor Program.

Three years later, a 19-year-old woman from New York learned that her best chance to survive her leukemia was to undergo a marrow transplant. The woman's name is Vinnie and she learned that her family members did not share her tissue type, so a search began for a matched, unrelated marrow donor.

A computer search through the National Marrow Donor Program revealed that Scott's tissue type was very similar to Vinnie's.

Julee, our Donor Services Coordinator, was able to reach Scott by phone because he had kept his contact information up-to-date with our program. Julee reeducated Scott about marrow donation, answered his questions, and then asked if he wanted to proceed with testing to determine if he was, indeed, a match. Scott said yes.

On September 24, 1998, Scott donated a portion of his marrow in the hopes of saving Vinnie's life.