Two Stem Cell Nurses Give the Ultimate Gift

Julie and Emily don’t know each other, but they have a shared calling. 

Julie, an assistant nurse manager on the Brennan 6 Bone Marrow Transplant unit at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, and Emily, a nurse practitioner within the blood and marrow transplant division at John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, both work with patients undergoing stem cell transplants that could save their lives.

This year, they each went through a life-changing shift in their roles: After being matched with donors in need, they donated their own stem cells.

The Call to Care

Both Julie and Emily were drawn to the specialty.

As Emily was growing up, her beloved grandmother, Marlene, fought both leukemia and lymphoma. It was watching her grandmother's health journey that put Emily on her path. In 2019, she became a stem cell transplant nurse to care for patients with blood cancer.

When the Brennan 6 Bone Marrow Transplant unit opened at Jersey Shore University Medical 

"Blood cancer is very special to me, because of her," she says. “She’s always been my biggest supporter — she's helped me become who I am today."

Center in 2022, Julie was among the first nurses on the team. With the experience that came from her earlier work in oncology, Julie cared for her first stem cell transplant patient.

Each of them had the same reaction: They were inspired to join the National Marrow Donor Program registry. They completed the simple cheek swab and sent it in.

Years had passed. They’d witnessed countless patients experience both excitement and heartbreak. And within months of each other, they would both get a phone call.

The Chance to Give

It was an astonishing moment. “The odds of matching with a stranger are incredibly slim. For a nurse on a transplant unit, the call felt like fate,” Julie says.

A voicemail had stopped her in her tracks. Surrounded by her transplant team, she played it again, and again and again. Each and every one of them was stunned: Julie was a match for a stranger in need.

When Emily’s call came, she was also in disbelief. “My jaw just dropped to the floor. I said, 'Are you sure? Are you sure it's really me? Am I the right person?'" she recalls. 

Both began the months-long process of blood work and screenings. Michele Donato, M.D., chief of the adult stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy program at John Theurer Cancer Center, coordinated with the NMDP so she could complete the donations under the expert care of her colleagues at Hackensack University Medical Center.

“I was so nervous,” Emily says. She knew what to expect, but was afraid of something disqualifying her. “I had to make sure that nothing happened to me, because if it had, it would have jeopardized the recipient."

When the day for donation finally came, it happened to be her grandmother's birthday. She thought, "This is a sign that everything will be okay."

For Julie, the process gave her a raw, unfiltered understanding of a routine part of her patients’ reality, right down to the lingering bruises and the vulnerability of needing help with the most basic needs. "It was surreal," she says.

A New Perspective

Both nurses are forever changed by their experience.

While Julie must remain anonymous to the recipient for a year, she sent him an unsigned letter. “I thanked him for the opportunity to connect with my patients more,” she says. “A lot of patients who go to transplant have life events that they would otherwise miss if they didn't get treatment, such as seeing a grandchild be born or going to a daughter's wedding. I told him, ‘Whatever your thing is, sir, I hope it happens.’"

Her practice has been transformed. “There’s no better reward than knowing you’re someone’s cure for cancer,” Julie says. “It’s a minor sacrifice—some blood work, some shots and 12 hours at an outpatient infusion—to give someone their life back.”

Emily’s journey has likewise come full circle. Now, she draws on her own experience to prepare and support other donors giving their stem cells to strangers. "This life-saving opportunity is something I will always be incredibly grateful for," she says. "I just want to do everything I can to help."

While Emily has never met the person who received her stem cells, she thinks about them every day. So does her grandmother.

Next Steps & Resources:

• Meet our source: Michele Lyne Donato, M.D.
• Make an appointment online with Dr. Donato or a physician near you, or call 800-822-8925
• Request more information about blood and marrow stem cell transplantation.
• Learn more about John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center.

The material provided through Healthier You is intended to be used as general information only and should not replace the advice of your physician. Always consult your physician for individual care.