Inspirational stories

What if you and you alone could save a life?

A story is worth a thousand words

Why I said yes to donating stem cells

I joined the Stem Cell Donor Registry in 2012—my last year of CEGEP and the year I first gave blood—for a simple reason: I wanted to help people.

There are times when you feel small, and it’s tough to see all of the good around us. It feels impossible to change the world, as if our actions are just a drop in a bucket, never making a difference. So, you decide to do nothing because you’re never going to change the tides. But I don’t believe that’s true. I believe that even the smallest of actions can change the world for a single person—and that’s as good a reason as any to want to help. You never know if just a smile can save a life, so imagine what a blood or stem cell donation could do!

That’s me—someone who firmly believes that everyone deserves a chance and that we can give chance a helping hand.

I’m lucky enough to be healthy, and I like to think that I can give others hope that one day they’ll be healthy too. I can encourage folks to hang in there, to believe that even when they feel all alone, there’s a perfect stranger out there who cares about them. I can spend a few hours in the hospital no problem, but someone who goes in for critical care doesn’t know if they’re living on borrowed time.

Oddly enough, when I first visited the hospital to prep for donation, I felt like a bit of an impostor. Everyone I met was so moved to hear I was an unrelated donor. When I returned to work after donating, my coworkers congratulated me with a bouquet of flowers and a round of hugs. While I appreciated the gesture, it made me uncomfortable. I almost wish they thought it was the norm, because there was no question in my mind about donating—it just seemed the natural thing to do.

Sadly, I never got to meet the person who received my donation in 2016, but I think of them often and wish them nothing but the best.