Cameron lyle, A University of New Hampshire track and field star hailed as a hero after he quit the team so he can donate bone marrow has given two liters of it to a complete stranger.
Cameron Lyle, a senior, grabbed national attention last week when he said he would selflessly end his collegiate track and field career to give the gift of life to a 28-year-old leukemia patient.
Mr Lyle does not know the patient's name, but was told that he had been given just six months to live.The 21-year-old had joined the bone marrow registry back in his sophomore year, but it wasn't until two months ago that he was contacted because he was a 100 per cent match for the man.
He said that the choice to donate was a no-brainer, but doing so would mean that the promising shot put, hammer and discus-thrower would have to sit out the rest of the season.
Mr Lyle told the Today show: 'I was surprised, I was pretty happy. I said yes right away. And then afterwards I thought about everything that that meant giving up, but I never had a second thought about donating. If I had said no, he wouldn’t have had a match.'
He underwent surgery over the weekend at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to extract the marrow from his hip.
The two-hour procedure, which involves inserting a needle into the hip, collected two liters of bone marrow that was quickly given to the leukemia-stricken man.
Mr Lyle told Today that he would get an update on the patient's condition in about a month.
But as part of Mr Lyle's recovery, he'll be unable to lift more than 20 pounds over his head for a few weeks, ruling out the heavy objects he tosses in competition.
Both Mr Lyle's mother and team coach were both extremely supportive of his decision.
'He's my hero,' his mom Christine Sciacca said.
'I couldn't be more proud of him and how he's been so humble about it.'
But Lyle said he felt like he had been called into the principal's office when he went to tell his coach, Jim Boulanger, the news.
But he didn't have to worry.
'I told him, "you either do 12 throws at the conference championships, or you give another man a few more years,"' Boulanger told the Eagle Tribune. 'It was easy for me.'
The recipient, who is suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and Lyle are required by law to remain anonymous to each other for one year.
9 years ago
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