Kevin Wise doesn’t know the man who donated the bone marrow that helped rid his body of leukemia a year ago.
But that didn’t stop the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District battalion chief and a few of his colleagues from organizing two bone marrow registry drives – even before he underwent his transplant – in hopes of helping others like him.
As Wise said, it was a way to “pay it forward.”
It paid off quickly.
Last week, one of Wise’s fellow firefighters, one of nearly 200 people who registered during the drive, donated his bone marrow to a 53-year-old man.
“I feel like it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said volunteer firefighter Richard Gleaves. “I am lucky I got to do it. I would do it again if I had the chance.”