BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Dylan Coleman is a senior at Bowling Green State University. Like most of Gen Z, he was scrolling on TikTok one night when he saw something that inspired him: a video showing a bone marrow donor and recipient embracing for the first time.
"It was just the most heart-warming thing I had ever seen," Coleman, a Findlay native, said.
He then contacted Be the Match, an organization that connects people with life-threatening illnesses to donor matches.
Soon enough, Coleman got a call. Not only was he a match for a woman fighting leukemia, he was the only match.
"When I actually got the call that I was a match, that I was going to donate, I wasn't really that scared, I was excited," he said. "I was happy that I was going to be able to help somebody."
On Monday, Coleman went through a five-hour donation process.
"They hook you up, you have one line going in, usually it's the weaker vein on whichever arm you have," he said. "And then you have one going out, which takes your blood, spins it through the machine and gets the stem cells out."
Coleman doesn't really know anything about the woman he's helping, just that she needs help. He said he can exchange anonymous communication with the recipient's consent after six months and can share names and contact information after one year.
The stem cell recipient's greatest takeaway from the donation may be that her life is saved. For Coleman, his takeaway is that he may have saved her life.
"I'm just happy I was able to help," Coleman said. "I was the only match. Just happy I was able to help potentially save somebody's life. I'm grateful for that."