Central New York Hero Saves Cancer Patient’s Life

A central New York man saved the life of a cancer patient he's never met.

Kyle Jacob Fitzpatrick joined the Be the Match bone marrow registry after seeing a post on Facebook. 9 months later he was notified as a possible match. "Without hesitation, I immediately signed up for this amazing journey to save someone's life."

Fitzpatrick traveled to Rochester for the procedure. "After 480 minutes I can say my mission was completed without any complaints. I gave double the amount of cells expected, so they are keeping the ones they don't use for storage in case he needs them."

After donating his stem cells Fitzpatrick wrote to his donor, a 60 year old man with blood cancer, while waiting to hear if the transplant was successful. And successful it was.

The donor wrote back, thanking Fitzpatrick for his selfless donation that saved his life.

After a year the two have the option to meet, which Fitzpatricks hopes will happen.

"I never consider myself as a hero," says Fitzpatrick. "I truly believe I was just put in the right place at the right time. And I wouldn't hesitate to do it all again."

Learn more on how you can Be the Match and save someone's life at Bethematch.org.

Fitzpatrick talks about his experience with Be the Match that you can watch below.