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This September, in recognition of Blood Cancer Awareness Month and Bone Marrow Donor Awareness Month, our own Stacey Ailes is sharing her personal journey with acute myeloid leukemia, a stem cell transplant, and the donor who gave her a second chance. As Stacey celebrates her birthday this month, she hopes her story will encourage others to learn just how meaningful the simple decision to join the NMDP Registry can be.
Written by Stacey Ailes
Connected Health
July 3, 2025 was a life-changing day for me. I had just completed three months of non-stop activity that included directing an out-of-town weekend women's event for a few hundred ladies, two out-of-state trips, going live with my craft merchandise in a local retail store, teaching my regular monthly classes, working full-time at Connected Health, and all of my other outside activities. I was loving the adrenaline of it all—and I felt great!
A month earlier, my concierge clinician had reminded me that it was time for my annual exam. I said, “Yeah, yeah…” and she said, “Get your name on my schedule!!” So, on July 2, I saw my primary care team for my annual physical and had the accompanying blood work drawn. I had had my labs drawn in January, and everything was normal. I went into my annual exam with no specific areas of concern. I felt fine.
The next afternoon, my provider approached my desk and said, “Walk with me.”
It was then that she shared that my lab work had come back with critical results and that I needed to leave work immediately and go directly to the hospital, where I would be admitted. My labs showed that I had acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
I had no symptoms. I felt fine. But my routine blood work revealed what I could not see or feel.
I was admitted immediately to Wexford Hospital and then transferred to West Penn when a bed became available, where I spent five weeks undergoing treatment. I was also placed on the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry so that an international search could begin for a potential stem cell donor.
I returned home in mid-August and made frequent trips back to West Penn for treatments and infusions. Then, toward the end of summer, I received THE call: a donor had been found for me in Switzerland—and she was a 10-out-of-10 match!
I was readmitted in mid-November for another five-week stay. I received conditioning treatment to prepare my body for the transplant, which included wiping out my existing bone marrow and suppressing my immune system. Then I received the stem cells that would give me a chance at a new beginning.
Thankfully, my transplant “took,” and I am now in remission.
My current treatment plan includes two years of maintenance chemotherapy, which has kept me from being physically present in the office. I am incredibly thankful for the flexibility Connected Health has extended to me, allowing me to work from home as I am able.
It has been wonderful to reconnect with so many of you over the phone. I have truly missed my Connected Health family—both employees and clients—over these past 14 months!
If you’d like to drop me a line and say “HI!”, I’d love to hear from you! You can reach me at stacey.ailes@connectedhealthpgh.com.
I have also been extremely thankful for the ongoing care and support of the Connected Health team throughout this journey. They have truly been a lifeline for me, providing answers, encouragement and guidance that helped me navigate some very difficult days.
As I celebrate my birthday this week, I realize more than ever how blessed I am to be alive. I recognize that the Lord has my life in His hands and that He was overseeing details on my behalf that I could never have orchestrated myself—from my PCP encouraging me to come in for my annual exam when I felt completely fine, to a woman I had never met, in Switzerland no less, who had made the decision to join the NMDP Registry.
I knew very little about the NMDP before my transplant. But I will never forget watching a courier walk through my hospital room door carrying a red-and-white cooler containing the stem cells I needed, stem cells that had been obtained less than 48 hours earlier in Switzerland and flown directly to Pittsburgh for me.
Those cells represented hope. They represented a future. And they came from someone who had simply said yes.
So, what does it mean to join the NMDP Registry?
If you are between the ages of 18 and 35, joining the registry is a simple first step. You complete a health questionnaire and receive a free cheek-swab kit. The swab takes just a few minutes, and you mail it back in a prepaid envelope. Your tissue type is then added to the registry so doctors can search for a potential match when a patient needs one.
Joining the registry does not mean you are signing up to have surgery. Most people who join will never be called because finding a genetic match is very specific. But if you are identified as a potential match, NMDP will contact you, explain the process, perform additional testing and make sure you are still willing and medically able to donate.
If you are ultimately selected to donate, about 90% of donors give peripheral blood stem cells through a non-surgical procedure similar to donating plasma. The other 10% donate bone marrow through a procedure performed under anesthesia. NMDP covers the medical and travel costs associated with donation and can also help with expenses such as lost wages, childcare and pet care.
Joining the registry is just a matter of simply being willing to say yes and completing the questionnaire and free cheek-swab kit which can all be done in the privacy of your own home.
So as I celebrate another birthday and the amazing gift of another year of life, I'm asking you to consider giving someone else that same gift of hope.
If you are 18–35, please consider joining the NMDP Registry.
And if you're not in that age range, think about the young people in your life. Do you have a son or daughter, grandchild, niece or nephew, neighbor, coworker or friend between 18 and 35? Share my story with them. Encourage them to learn more.
I am living proof of what can happen when someone says yes.
I will probably never know anything about the woman in Switzerland who gave me that chance. But I know this:
She joined a registry. She became my match. And she helped save my life.
Maybe someone you know could be the person who does that for someone else.
Stacey’s story feels especially meaningful to share this September. As we recognize Blood Cancer Awareness Month and Marrow Donor Awareness Month, Stacey is also celebrating something especially personal—her birthday and another year of life.
Her story is a powerful reminder of the importance of routine preventive care, the incredible impact of bone marrow and blood stem cell donors, and the difference one person can make simply by choosing to say “yes.”
If you are between the ages of 18 and 35, consider learning more about becoming a potential donor and joining the NMDP Registry. And if you’re outside that age range, share Stacey’s story with someone in your life who may be eligible.
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