In 2017, Laura Walters was asked if she wanted to do a simple cheek swab for DKMS, an international registry that connects stem cell donors with patients who need a transplant. After agreeing to the swab, Laura – a nursing student at the time – was told that her chance of matching with someone were less than 1 percent; however, if they did find a match, she could end up saving that person’s life.
Fast forward eight years. Laura – now a nurse in FMC’s Endoscopy Department – was at work when she received a text message from an unknown number. It was a representative from DKMS, asking if she was still interested in being a donor. “At first, I had no idea what this was about, but then it came back to me – the cheek swab I had provided back in nursing school,” Laura said.
Laura learned that she had come up in the registry as a match for a female patient in the U.S. who was fighting severe aplastic anemia (SAA), a rare disease in which the patient’s bone marrow does not make enough blood cells. A stem cell transplant was the patient’s best hope for survival.
“The patient’s chance of finding a donor was less than 0.03%,” Laura said. “I realized I may be the only person in the world who could help her, so of course I agreed to do it.”
The process to become the patient’s donor began with hours of phone interviews and multiple rounds of lab work. DKMS then flew Laura to Chicago for a physical, imaging tests and more lab work. The final step in the process was 10 injections to motivate Laura’s stem cells to push the bone marrow into her bloodstream. The side effects were painful, but Laura remained focused on her end goal: There was another woman out there who desperately needed her.
Since time was of the essence, Laura learned her medical team was pushing hard to complete all of her preliminary work ahead of schedule, with the goal of Feb. 3, 2026 for “Donation Day.” On Feb. 2, Laura flew to Chicago and on the 3rd, began apheresis, a procedure to collect her stem cells via a catheter placed into her internal jugular vein (pictured left). Laura’s mobility was limited during the almost six-hour procedure, but a nurse stayed by her side to monitor the process and keep her comfortable. Since the transfusion had to take place within 72 hours, a courier was waiting to transport Laura’s donation to the patient as soon as it was available.
“They needed 5 million stem cells, and my final count ended up being 10 million, so more than enough,” Laura said. “Prior to the transfusion, the patient had to go through very rigorous chemotherapy to wipe out her entire system so that my stem cells could take over.”
With the donation now complete, Laura is hopeful that it was a success and is prepared to do another one if the first transfusion fails. She would love to one day talk to or even meet the patient who received her stem cell donation. She also hopes her story inspires others to sign up for the registry. “While you physically have to go through a lot and it is a process, the company I worked with was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Laura said. “If the roles were reversed, I would want someone to do it for me.”
To learn more about the DKMS registry, visit dkms.org.