All of America’s servicemen deserve respect. They’ve risked their lives to keep us safe. And some army veterans never stop helping others.
Mike Laureano is one such veteran. He served in a tour of Iraq from 2009 to 2010 and was in the National Guard for years.
Since his army career came to an end, Laureano has always sought to help others.
When he enrolled in college for the first time, he saw the perfect opportunity to contribute to others’ wellbeing.
On campus, there was a table for Be The Match. This charity runs a marrow donor program that helps people with cancers like leukemia and lymphoma find matches. It has been running for over 30 years and has saved thousands of lives.
Laureano remembered how his mother had been on the registry but had never matched with anyone. He knew that she would have wanted him to do this.
It isn’t fun or convenient to donate bone marrow, but he figured that it couldn’t be scarier than his time in Iraq.
He put his name down, hoping that the would get the opportunity to save someone’s life.
One year later, Laureano got a call from Be The Match.
A voicemail explained that a three-year-old girl with leukemia desperately needed his bone marrow and that Laureano was a match.
The caller said that they realized that opting to donate marrow wouldn’t be an easy choice. It would mean that Laureano would have to put his college on hold for a while. The operation was risky, and it had a painful recovery process with a risk of it causing medical complications for life.
But the woman on the phone explained that Laureano was the three-year-old girl’s only hope.
She asked him to take his time with the decision.
But instantly, Laureano called back. He said that would take time out of college and risk the operation for the little girl.
“So of course I called back immediately. I didn’t even talk to anybody before I did that.” -Laureano
The person at Be The Match was surprised. No one had ever agreed to undergo the procedure so quickly.
But Laureano was thinking back to his army days. He used to put his life on the line for the people in his unit on a daily basis. Like then, this operation was just him doing his duty.
Laureano undertook the surgery as soon as possible.
He knew that the sooner his marrow was sent to the young girl, the greater her chances of survival.
Luckily, the operation was a complete success. As he was recovering, his only request to Be The Match was to be put in touch with the young girl. Even though he had never met her, he had to know how she was doing.
But the charity explained that for legal reasons, donors and recipients weren’t allowed to know each other’s identities for one year after a transplant.
So Laureano waited patiently. And one year later, Laureano got a Facebook message. It was from the young girl’s mother. She thanked him wholeheartedly for saving her daughter’s life and said that the girl, Adriana, was doing very well. She would be honored if they could meet.
The first thing that Laureano did was tell his wife the news. He was overjoyed at being able to meet his donor and her family at last.
It turned out that Adriana and her mother lived over 2,000 miles away, but Laureano had to meet them.
Eventually, Laureano and his friend decided to take a long road trip out to see them.
“I was excited the entire time but still nervous, because I have this hero title… You don’t know what to expect going in. But I was just happy to meet them in person.” -Laureano
When Laureano arrived at Adriana’s house, Adriana’s mother opened the door. Adriana ran out and hugged the man who had saved her life.
“Thank you so much!” she cried to Laureano.
Laureano was finally in the same room as the person he had saved and her family. The family members thanked him with all of their hearts. But Laureano was incredibly modest. He said that he was just doing what he thought was right.
In fact, Laureano has spent all of his time since this meeting encouraging others to do what he did.
He is now taking part in efforts to inspire others to sign up as blood marrow donors.
If you want to sign up to save someone’s life, then Be The Match’s website is here.
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