CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An Illinois state trooper said his life has been changed forever since becoming a bone marrow donor for an Ohio woman who's been cured of an auto-immune disease.
Illinois State Trooper Jeremy Carnes, 31, works in Springfield but was in Chicago visiting his best friend who suggested he sign up for the "Be The Match" marrow donor program. The "Be The Match" program helps link patients with life-threatening illnesses in need of a transplant with potential marrow donors.
That was in 2016.
Two years later, Carnes received a call that he was a possible match for a 20-year-old woman from the Buckeye State. At the time, he only was told the recipient's gender and age.
That July, Carnes donated bone marrow at Loyola University Medical Center to the matched recipient, whose name he later learned was Kathryn Poe. But the two wouldn't meet until two weeks ago at the "Be The Match" gala in Minneapolis.
"Surprisingly, there weren't any tears shed. It was just a moment of celebration and hugs. And getting to know the other person because my life has been changed forever," Carnes recalled of the Sept. 28 meeting.
And Carnes said Poe's life has been changed forever, too: her auto-immune disease cured. And she's now training for a 5K race.