Donor & Recipient Stories

On October 20, 2022, Steven Olson of Raleigh, NC was able to meet his donor, Savannah Kurka, of Denton, TX.  Savannah joined the Be The Match Registry at a recruitment drive funded by Because I Care on the University of North Texas campus.  She was seeking volunteer...

On November 14, 2019, at BIC’s annual banquet, Jason Justiss of Longview met Mike Hulen, the stranger for whom he had donated stem cells in 2015. In May of 2013, Justiss was recruited for the Be The Match Registry by Because I Care at a skeet shoot in Gilmer, which...

November 2, 2017 Southern Californian, Patricia Umana-De La Rosa, came to Longview, Texas, to meet the East Texan who saved her life. In 2016, Jose Rubio donated healthy stem cells to Patricia, giving her a chance for a cure and extended life. In 2012, Jose signed up...

October 21, 2016 West Texan, Melissa McCoy, came to Longview to meet the young woman who saved her life. Amy Grimsley, donated stem cells to her in 2015. This story began when Amy was a nursing student at East Texas Baptist University and took part in the LeTourneau...

October 23, 2015 Katelyn Thompson signed up for the Be The Match Registry in the spring of 2014, at Because I Care’s table at a TSTC Health Fair in Marshall, TX. At the time she was a phlebotomist at Carter BloodCare. The following year Katelyn learned she was a...

On October 24, 2014, Canadian Larry Parks flew to Longview, Texas, from Red Deer, Alberta, to meet the lady who saved his life. He’d always wanted to meet her but never thought it would happen. East Texan, Beverly Johnson, was enjoying the booths and art at Alley Fest...

October 11, 2013 When Sean was a toddler, he was diagnosed with ALD, adrenoleukodystrophy, a potentially fatal disease. A bone marrow transplant would offer him the best opportunity for a longer life. In November 2008, Stephen McCormick was a student at East Texas...

November 4, 2010 Pete Herting and his wife Christine, Oakdale, New York residents, flew to Longview to meet Del Covington, the East Texan to whom Pete gave “the gift of life” in 2008. Covington owes his life to Herting, a New York City firefighter. Covington was the...

October 22, 2009 Halston Hunt, age 17 and a high school senior in Bridgeport, Texas, met his marrow donor, Melinda Beatty of Longview, for the first time on October 22, 2009. Hunt was diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2006, and received Beatty’s marrow in the spring of...

October 22, 2009 Diana Brewer, a nurse and mother of two young children who lives in Longview, met little Hailey Franco, age 7, of Katy. Brewer said she was excited that Because I Care made it possible for her to meet the little girl for whom she donated marrow....

October 23, 2008 North Carolinian Marc Heath came to East Texas to meet the man to whom he had given a Texas-sized gift. Heath had never been to Texas before, nor had he ever met Bob Hogberg, the Marshall man whose life he saved by donating bone marrow. “It’s good to...

November 8, 2007 Kirsten Stauder, an 11-year-old girl from New York, flew to Texas to meet Jay Edwards, the Gladewater man whose bone marrow donation saved her life in 2005. “It was wonderful to have a chance to come to Texas and meet him,” Kirsten said. “That’s...

November 4, 2004 David Cloud is alive today because of a bone marrow transplant he received in 1992. His donor, Kirk Kirkpatrick, was tissue typed on January 27, 1990, at the first Because I Care event. Kirkpatrick hoped his marrow would be a match for his 18-year-old...