PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Three years ago, a Philadelphia Wings lacrosse player saved a stranger’s life through bone marrow donation.
Last December, the two had a chance to meet at a game in Philadelphia.
Because bone marrow produces healthy blood cells, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant is a life-saving gift for patients facing several diseases, including blood cancers.
But before science came along, this story started with a piece of pizza.
Alex Pace, a Philadelphia Wings player and bone marrow donor, said, “It’s a normal day when I go to class, and they have a stem cell drive, and if I get swabbed, I give them a slice of pizza.” “He gave it to me,” he said.
Pace returned to university in Canada and underwent a swab test to become a bone marrow donor. A few years later, he received a call telling him he was the perfect match.
“When I was actually donating, I remember sitting in the hospital and asking the nurse, ‘Do you have any idea where this is going?'” Pace said.
Pace said the donation process is anonymous, but donors and their recipients can opt-in to meet afterward.
“He’s stuck with me now,” said Tom Mix, who received a bone marrow transplant.
Mix, 53, is from Connecticut. In 2021 she was diagnosed with blood cancer and required chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant to survive. His family didn’t match, but the pace did. 10/10 exactly what the doctor said.
Mix’s transplant set a record at Yale University, where she received the treatment, and nearly three years later, the husband and father of four is in complete remission.
“I’m feeling great, in fact I just came back from training and that’s what Alex wants too,” Mix said.
Mix and Pace first connected via Zoom in the months following the transplant and finally met at a Wings game last December.
While Pace shakes off the hero label, Mix says he’s not.
“He’s my hero and always will be my hero,” Mix said.
Now, the pair, who share DNA, say they are forever bound together by the gift that keeps on giving.
“I think it’s just fate. The same reasons that drove me to school that day and walked by the stem cell drive are 99 percent the same reasons,” Pace said. Ta.
Pace and Mix have become close family members, with Mix regularly driving to cheer on Pace at his games in Philadelphia.
Wings also National Bone Marrow Donor Program, register as a fan during the game. The entire Wings team has been tested and registered.
Pace and Mix said they are so grateful to be able to continue spreading the word about this life-saving gift.
alicia roberts
