A Dallas man was given a second chance at life after receiving a bone marrow transplant from a stranger in 2019.
Scott Brock was faced with the battle of his life after being diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma cancer in 2018, according to NBC 5 DFW. This diagnosis meant that Brock was in dire need of a bone marrow transplant.
A bone marrow transplant, also known as a stem cell transplant, is a procedure that infuses healthy blood-forming stem cells into the body to replace bone marrow that’s not producing enough healthy blood cells, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“We had a struggle finding a donor, so it’s a very rare cancer that I had, so it was very important to have close to perfect donor match,” Brock told NBC 5.
Against the odds, a donor from Denver who had no ties to Brock ended up being a “close to perfect match.” The anonymous stem cell contributor, who had registered on Be the Match, agreed to the donation in 2019.
Be the Match, now known as NMDP, is a national marrow donor program founded in 1986.
“For patients diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases, a bone marrow or cord blood transplant may be their best or only hope for a cure,” the NMDP website reads. “Yet 70% of patients who need a transplant do not have a fully matched donor in their family.”
Brock has been cancer-free for four years now after receiving the transplant at Baylor Scott & White’s Sammons Cancer Center in 2019.
“It’s just surreal. I mean [you] start thinking, ‘I’m getting the immune system of a stranger,'” Brock shared with NBC 5.
Baylor Scott & White’s first adult marrow transplant was performed in 1983, with the first unrelated donor transplant taking place five years later, according to the Baylor Scott & White website. Since the program started, 6,000 blood and marrow transplants have been performed at the Dallas hospital.
Brock shared with NBC 5 that he hopes to meet his donor someday.
“Thank you seems so meaningless; it’s more than that. I would love to give the guy a hug one day. And I hope to one day.”
Brock’s wife and three children were by his side through the journey.
“It’s unbelievable to see it and then to watch it going into him, giving him life again when he was just so sick,” Brock’s wife, Debbie, shared with NBC 5.
