For the Right Reasons - Student Shares Stem Cell Donation Experience
For a donor, the decision to have stem cells harvested for someone in need is often driven by a deep sense of altruism and the desire to make a tangible difference. Through their selflessness, stem cell donors become a critical part of the medical community’s efforts to offer healing and a second chance at life.
Kindness, as a cornerstone of the Sanford School of Medicine’s statement of purpose, is exemplified wholly in what Madeline Vagts, Class of 2027, decided to do. Her act of kindness had the most profound of impacts – it transformed someone else’s future and prolonged a life.
Vagts, originally from Monticello, Minnesota, found herself on the stem cell donation donor registry a few years ago after a conversation with her older sister, Morgan, who was already on the registry. That conversation prompted Madeline to consider doing the same.
It was an easy decision. After all, Morgan told her, the process is so straightforward: sign up online, receive a swab kit, perform a simple cheek swab and drop the sample in the mail. Confirmation of registry arrives to you within a couple weeks.
Vagts worked with the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP), formerly known as Be The Match®. The organization’s mission is simple: to save lives through cell therapy. Established in 1987 and based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the National Marrow Donor Program has impacted more than 130,000 lives through cell therapy. In 2023 alone, 7,435 lives were impacted – the most in any one year in the program’s history.
Ironically, Vagts was sitting in a lecture about blood lymphoma and leukemia when she received an email saying she was an initial match for a patient. The patient had more than one match, but Vagts turned out to be the primary match with the highest likelihood of transplant acceptance.
When NMDP called to ask if she was interested in moving forward with the donation, she accepted without hesitation. NMDP’s clinic then asked a battery of questions about her health history; a physical and many labs were scheduled, including an infectious disease panel and a metabolic panel.
The week after she completed blood work, her grandfather was diagnosed with mantle cell stage 4 lymphoma, a rare, aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) that develops in the lymph nodes. His diagnosis came at the exact same time that she was studying such diseases.
“I really felt the universe was trying to tell me something after that,” Vagts said, “and just made my decision even more solid.”
In stem cell donation, the cells are used in transplants to replace a patient’s unhealthy blood--forming cells with healthy ones, which can help heal and boost their immune systems. Transplants can help patients whose bone marrow has failed due to illness, chemotherapy or radiation treatment.
“Many people do not know there is a national registry of blood stem cell donors, so we’re constantly working to raise awareness of our mission,” explained Erica Sevilla, a representative from NMDP. “Another challenge we face is fear or misconceptions about the donation process. Many people have perceived blood stem cell donations, also referred to as bone marrow donations, as painful procedures, when the reality is much different than the dramatic depictions seen in movies or on television. About 90% of the time, donations are completed through a nonsurgical procedure that resembles plasma or platelet donation, and most of these donors are back to normal activities within a few days.”
Since donors ages 18-35 are the most sought after, NMDP educates young individuals on college campuses about the potential to become a lifesaver by joining the NMDP Registry. While there are nine million members on the NMDP registry in the United States, only 50% of members say “yes” when called to donate. “We look for opportunities to do presentations on college campuses so that students know exactly what they’re signing up for, so if they receive the call to donate, they will be comfortable proceeding with the donation,” said Sevilla.
Vagts underwent countless lab procedures to ensure her body was fit for the procedure. Thirty days prior to the donation, she had a second infectious disease run, and seven days prior, she needed a negative pregnancy test. A nurse came to her home to administer Filgrastim injections for five days before the donation procedure, three per day, to stimulate her stem cell growth with the hope of the stem cells entering the blood stream.
Producing extra stem cells takes its toll on a body; the more cells generated, the more fatigued a person feels, and some can have symptoms of bone pain, headache, fever, nausea or vomiting. A white blood cell count of 70-90 is normal after receiving cell therapy, and a count of at least 20 is necessary for someone to donate cells. After the Filgrastim injections, Vagts ’white blood cell count was 211. She was exhausted. Thankfully, fatigue was her only symptom.
On a Thursday in mid-August, she boarded a flight to Seattle, Washington, accompanied by her mother. At 7 a.m. on donation day, tired and nervous, she settled into a room full of transfusion devices to have vitals taken. As one of two donors at the facility that day, Vagts expected a full day of the donation process, as a typical donation takes four to six hours, on average. With an IV in one arm and a smooth tip needle in the other, her cell withdrawal took only about two and half hours due to her high white blood cell count. According to Vagts, the whole procedure was less complicated than a plasma donation.
From the donation center, a carrier picks up the cells and transports them to the patient’s location. Vagts has no idea where her cell recipient is located, just that he is within the United States.
The recipient of her stem cells, a middle-aged man with lymphoma, received her cells a week after her donation was complete. “His cancer is gone, but his real battle is starting,” she observed. “I’m hoping for the best for him. If I gave him a year or five years, it doesn’t matter; that time is valuable for him and his family. You can’t underestimate that.
“I’m thankful I got to see the other side of medicine by participating in a treatment course,” continued Vagts, who will start clinicals in February at Avera Sioux Falls. “I look forward to using my experience as a stem cell donor in clinic. It will only add to the empathy I have for patients in similar situations.” At this point in her education, Vagts anticipates going into primary care, as she enjoys women’s health.
According to Sevilla, “It’s always surprising how humble our donors are. Donors see themselves as just doing the right thing. Yet despite not acknowledging the magnitude of the gift they’re giving to an anonymous patient, this selfless act also has a profound effect on the donor. We have heard from a lot of donors that they felt a greater sense of purpose in life after donating. Others become very emotionally invested in the outcome for the patient, and others are so inspired by the work we do that they volunteer to recruit more registry members.”
Vagts said that if given the opportunity, she will donate again in a heartbeat.
“I wish people knew how much of a lifesaving impact they can have by joining the registry with a simple cheek swab,” Vagts said.
For her, though, it wouldn’t matter even if it was a more difficult process.
“I would donate no matter what.”
