Drexel Medical Students Share Friendship, Stem-Cell-Donation Bond
John McCormick doesn’t always remember on the spot how or when he met Ryan Rothman, but he knows why they became friends.
As second-year medical students at Drexel University’s College of Medicine, they spend a lot of time around each other, studying in the same library on Drexel’s Queen Lane campus. McCormick, after recalling that he actually met Rothman through a monthly board game night through a mutual friend, says he could tell from the start that Rothman was a good person — like most of the compassionate people who enter medical school to become doctors and ultimately help people.
And like most of his friends, when a registration drive through Be The Match — which manages the largest and most diverse bone marrow registry in the world — came to campus, McCormick encouraged Rothman to sign up. So he did, and he heeded the same type of donation call which, years before, had saved McCormick’s own life.
McCormick received a donation of stem-cell-rich umbilical cord blood transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia when he was 21, and Rothman donated stem cells through peripheral blood collection to an awaiting recipient he was matched up with through Be The Match.
“To describe to someone in person, describe to Ryan, what it means to know that you're about to die or that you could die and that someone else has stepped forward to offer a part of themselves — like a puzzle piece — so that you can get a second chance… I just want to express to Ryan how much a second chance means and how grateful I am and that his donor will be to live on Earth for just a little while longer,” McCormick said.
Though Rothman can’t remember the seeds of their friendship either, he does remember the day about a year ago when the Be The Match drive came to campus and, on McCormick’s encouragement, he got the easy cheek swab to register. Rothman figured he had no real reason not to do it, and there was a good chance he wouldn’t match up with anyone. With his busy school and studying schedule, that might be a good thing.
But then Rothman got the call last December — a stem cell donation from him could save an unidentified woman with leukemia. And although the procedure and preparation would take place right around the time of his big United States Medical Licensing Examination Step 1 exam, he knew sacrificing the time was well worth it.
“Even though it was a chunk of my time, just the small amount of time that I’d need to dedicate would be so worth it, and would potentially save someone's life with minimal effort on my part,” he said.
Rothman also had another Drexel friend looking out for him during the procedure. Peter M. Clifford, DO, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the College of Medicine, actually completed Rothman’s stem cell collection procedure.
“Ryan was an exemplary patient and donor,” Clifford said. “He did a great job and we got a great cell product from him, ultimately sent it off and it went to the recipient and they received it.”