In a moving meeting, full of nerves and tears, Noé López met Trish Ureña, the stem cell donor who saved his life.
Noé and Trish met at the NMDP Gala on August 9th in Los Angeles. Trish made a special trip to Los Angeles from Phoenix, Arizona where she lives to meet Noé.
The story between Noah and Trish began during the second year of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Noé was born and raised in East Los Angeles, and currently resides in the San Fernando Valley.
When life takes a turn
It was one day in 2021 that Noah, a young father of two minor children, began to have trouble breathing when he put on his Covid protection mask at his job as an environmental supervisor.
“I got very agitated with the mask on and had anxiety attacks. With the mask on, I wasn’t able to perform for eight hours,” she says.
Noah had several medical visits, but they did not give importance to his case and he could not even see his doctor.
“One day, I told my wife that I wasn’t feeling well, and we went to the emergency room at West Hills Medical Center. There, they did more extensive tests, and they told me that I had a small tumor on top of my lung.”
But the studies continued and after performing a biopsy, she received a call she would never have wanted.
Noah had no idea that his life was about to take a huge turn.
“It was a Friday when I received a call telling me that they thought I had leukemia and that I should go to the doctor on Monday. City of Hope. When I go on the Internet to see what it was City of Hopeand I see cancer treatment, my world fell apart.”
For this Los Angeles native, who is now 38 years old, that day was the worst of his life.
“To top it off, they told me I had lymphoma and leukemia. If I didn’t die from one, I would die from the other. No one in my family had suffered from those diseases.”
Two days later, he was already admitted to the hospital, ready to begin treatment.
“I had 67 chemotherapy sessions and five days of radiation day and night. I was exhausted. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t lie down. I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t do anything. It was very painful.”
In search of a donor
Doctors then informed her that her life depended on finding a stem cell donor.
Unfortunately, no one in her family qualified to be her donor, and that’s when they turned to the NMDP donor registry, the most diverse registry in the world, in search of a donor.
“The first donor canceled on me. I broke down again. A lot of people die in the process of finding a donor. They run out of time waiting. I honestly couldn’t sleep thinking about it, but then it came out that there was another donor, and that was Trish from Arizona.”
Noé received the transplant in September 2022; since then, he has gradually begun to recover his health.
“Today the doctors told me that I am cancer-free. I have to rebuild my life little by little,” says Noé.
And he admits that he feels blessed after so many difficult days.
“Now I enjoy the little things. Before, I used to think about how to have more material things, how to have more money, a bigger house. I was never happy, I wanted more. Today I appreciate my health and life more.”
Noé is still in the process of recovery, and his desire is to return to work next year.
“I want to think that all this was a nightmare. Going back to work would help me a lot mentally and financially.”
Meanwhile, he shares that he has no words to thank Trish for her generosity.
“Without knowing me, she gave me a piece of life. What can I give her that would repay the opportunity she gave me? Life is priceless. She not only helped me but also an entire family.”
He adds that in these two years, faith in God and the strength of his family, his mother and his wife, gave him hope to fight. Noah is the father of an 8-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.
His wife Christina says she is very happy because it was very hard to see her husband go through the worst days of his life. “Seeing him healthy has taken a weight off my shoulders. I pray to God that everything will go back to how it was before, and that we can all go out together as a family again.”
Trish’s generosity
When 36-year-old Trish Ureña received a phone call asking if she was willing to donate stem cells, she no longer remembered that she had registered as a donor six years ago.
“It was a surprise, but I said yes. I never thought they would call me. I work at a pet grooming place. I comb their hair, I cut their nails. I am a dog groomer. When I told my work what I was going to do, they were very understanding.”
Trish lives in Phoenix, Arizona and traveled to Los Angeles for the stem cell donation.
“The process was not painful at all. It was like donating blood or plasma, I just felt sleepy and a little tired for the next two days.”
She says she feels proud of herself today.
“People are afraid to donate, but it is very easy, and it is well worth it because you save someone’s life. Not everyone can say that they saved someone’s life. Everyone in my family is proud of me.”.
He says it’s just a matter of donating a little of your time and your stem cells.
“This can be the difference between someone living or dying, between a family that mourns or a family that celebrates life. You can make the difference.”
He adds that it is easier than they think it is.
“All you do is show up, and they take care of everything, making it very easy for you.”
Trish donated her blood stem cells to Noah as part of a clinical trial led by NMDP, to explore the feasibility of transplanting 100% mismatched blood stem cells.
Less than half of Hispanic patients have a fully matched donor on record, so NMDP is investing in research to expand options for patients who need to rely on a less well-matched donor.
Hispanic donors are lacking
Erica Sevilla, NMDP spokesperson (formerly National Marrow Donor Program and Be The Match), says donating stem cells is a similar process to donating blood, but it can take longer to extract them.
“It’s easier than people think.”
Note that people don’t know that inside us, we have cells that can cure cancer in other people.
“There are people like Noah who need donors of the same ethnicity because they and the patient need to be compatible with their donor.”
Unfortunately, he says, Hispanics and African Americans find that less than 50% can find a compatible donor.
“In Noah’s case, the transplant with Trish, with whom he is not 100% compatible, was possible due to a clinical trial that, through a new drug, allows the acceptance of cells from a donor who is not completely compatible.”
Sevilla urged Hispanics and African Americans to donate stem cells, as long as they are healthy and between 18 and 40 years old.