It’s a match: FGCU student to meet blood stem cell recipient at Dec. 4 basketball game
6 – minute read
With a quick swab of her cheek, Florida Gulf Coast University student Zoe Horowitz found out she could help save a stranger’s life. The simple but meaningful act of adding her saliva sample to a bone marrow registry rapidly set off a chain of events that inspired an entire FGCU class and brought hope to an individual in need.
“A week or so goes by, and I get a phone call saying I’m a match,” Horowitz says. “It was nerve-wracking but also rewarding that just this small action led to something bigger.”
Five months later, she donated peripheral blood stem cells through the Gift of Life Marrow Registry, a nonprofit that has been a community partner with the university since 2018. There have been 21 matches and three lifesaving transplants thanks to the efforts of FGCU staff, faculty and students.
Horowitz will meet the recipient of her donation, Kevin Mitchell, for the first time Dec. 4 during a special halftime presentation at the FGCU women’s basketball game at Alico Arena. Among those cheering them on will be the instructor who introduced Horowitz to Gift of Life in the first place. The organization will also have a swab table set-up before and after the game for anyone who would like to join the registry.
The FGCU class that gave the gift of life
When Tricia Miller began teaching the “University Transition” course, she wanted it to reflect FGCU’s commitment to service-learning. She sought out a nonprofit organization to highlight in class that would create opportunities for her students to engage in meaningful volunteerism. She found that in the Gift of Life Marrow Registry, an organization dedicated to finding life-saving matches for peripheral blood stem cell and bone marrow transplants for patients with blood cancer and other serious diseases.
“Service is a component of FGCU and what we stand for, so I mention the opportunity to join the registry or volunteer with the organization in all my classes,” Miller says.
Her students often join the registry and promote stem cell and marrow donation through tabling, fundraising and campus-wide marketing campaigns like “Best Cheeks on Campus,” a cheeky reference to the swab samples taken.
And her first “University Transition” class in fall 2022 included Horowitz, a psychology major who would go on to change someone’s life. That was the fall that Hurricane Ian shattered lives and homes across Florida, scattering students and creating challenges to in-person classes. But when Horowitz received the official call confirming her as a match, she shared the news with her classmates. It brought the group closer together as they rallied around one of their own being given the chance to save a life.
“I said yes without even talking to my mom first. Usually I consult her for everything. I just decided I’m going to do it because it could really help someone else,” Horowitz says. “My mom is my biggest supporter with everything I do. But when I told her I was donating peripheral blood stem cells, she broke down into tears. I think because I was making such a big decision on my own.”
Finding a match
Curing or treating more than 75 blood cancers and disorders, including leukemia and sickle cell disease, begins with a blood stem cell or bone marrow donor match. Through a transplant of stem cells or marrow, the spongy tissue inside of bones, damaged or unhealthy blood-forming cells are replaced with healthy ones from a donor like Horowitz.
“Like dialysis, they hook up both arms and the blood transfers through a machine and filters out what it wants to — in my case, stem cells,” Horowitz says.
She had three blood draws leading up to her donation in February 2023 and received shots of a medication that stimulates white blood cell production. She described the donor process as similar to receiving blood or medicine through an IV; the healthy cells are taken directly from the bloodstream, and it does not require surgery.
“I spent basically all day at Gift of Life’s collection center in Boca Raton. I had some issues with my donation, so I went back a second day so they could get the rest of the stem cells out,” Horowitz says. “And fun fact — there’s no more than a can of soda worth of blood out of you at one time.”
Blood stem cell and marrow matches are identified by comparing the donor’s and recipient’s human leukocyte antigens (HLA), which play a key role in the immune system by distinguishing between the body’s own cells and foreign ones. People get their HLA types from their parents, one half from each parent, like how humans inherit hair and eye color. Only about 30% of patients find a match with a family member; the other 70% rely on the registry for an unrelated donor. People with the same genetic heritage have the best chance of being HLA matches, due to the way these factors are inherited.
“For our genetic marker match, the recipient and I were 11 out of 12 markers for an HLA match and eight out of eight for a high-resolution match,” Horowitz says. “We were just really high in genetic matches and that’s super rare.”
Every swab counts
While Horowitz’s match was a moment of unity for Miller’s students, it also highlights the service-learning ethos at FGCU. Miller and the students in her course extend their mission to let others in the FGCU community know that they have the potential to save the life of someone with blood cancer.
Since its founding in 1991, Gift of Life has registered more than 480,000 people at nearly 32,000 donor drives and facilitated over 5,300 transplants. Since 2018, the FGCU community has added 602 potential donors to that registry.
While Horowitz has spoken to the recipient of her donation on the phone, they have yet to meet. That will change during the basketball game Dec. 4.
“Meeting him is going to be such a reward,” Horowitz says.
Tickets to the game are still available online or by calling 866-FGCU-TIX (866-342-8849).