“I’ve been told I saved a life”: Bodhi’s stem cell donation journey
The call that changed everything
Bodhi first joined the registry as a volunteer donor a few years earlier, never expecting the phone call that came one afternoon from Stem Cell Donors Australia.
“They told me I’d been selected as the primary donor for a patient who needed a stem cell transplant,” he recalls. “It was just, wow. I was really excited and very keen to get into the process, learn what was going to happen, and come out the other side having helped someone.”
For Bodhi, the decision was immediate. “It wasn’t even really a decision. Of course I wanted to go ahead. This could give someone a second chance at life.”
Preparing to donate
Soon after, Bodhi travelled to Sydney for his work-up appointment, a full day of testing to make sure he was healthy and ready for donation.
“They took about 10 vials of blood, ran an ECG and chest X-ray, and went through all the paperwork with me,” he says. “The team, Dr Janlin, and nurses Beth and Vivian, were incredible. They explained everything so thoroughly and made me feel like the priority of the day.”
Bodhi also learned about the medication he’d be taking in the days before the donation: a series of small injections containing G-CSF, a naturally occurring growth factor that stimulates the bone marrow to release stem cells into the bloodstream.
“They gave me this fake skin to practice on, which was kind of funny. The needles are tiny, and you barely feel them,” he says. “The first time was a bit confronting, but by the second or third I was doing it in seconds. By the last one, I literally gave myself the injection at 4am and went straight back to sleep.”
There were lighter moments too. “One time, my landlord walked past the window just as I was about to inject myself. He hasn’t brought it up since, and I definitely never will.”
Donation day
With his stem cells ready, Bodhi and his girlfriend Erin made the trip back to Sydney. The next morning, he was admitted to Concord Hospital for the donation itself. The procedure, called Peripheral Blood Stem Cell (PBSC) collection, took about five hours.
“You just sit in a chair while the machine does its work, separating the blood, plasma, and stem cells,” Bodhi explains. “I chatted with Erin, talked to the nurses, ate some food, and crunched on ice chips. It was really straightforward.”
The staff kept him amused, too. “I’d had a big dinner the night before at a place called Fat Dumpling. Every nurse who came in commented on how cloudy my plasma looked. Apparently it shows how much fat you’ve eaten the night before. They were laughing about it, and honestly, I would do it again because those dumplings were delicious.”
By the end of the day, enough stem cells had been collected to proceed with the transplant. “The nurses were so happy, they even celebrated with me when the results came back. It was incredible knowing that bag of cells was going straight from me to the patient who needed them.”
Waiting, hoping, and looking ahead
At this stage, Bodhi doesn’t know who received his donation. “I don’t know their name, their age, anything. But if we both agree in two years, we might get to meet.”
In the meantime, he holds onto one hope. “If I could send a message to them, I’d just say I hope you’re healthy, happy, spending time with your family. I hope there’s a little bit more happiness in the world because of this simple thing I was able to do.”
Reflecting on the experience, Bodhi is both proud and humbled. “I’ve gone through this journey of being selected, doing the tests, and making the donation. But on the other side, there’s someone who was critically ill, waiting to find out if they had a match. To be that person for them, it’s just incredible.”
"You could change someone’s life"
As a nursing student, Bodhi knows the science and the stakes behind transplantation. But as a donor, he’s seen firsthand what it means to be someone’s best match.
“There are still thousands of Australians waiting for a match,” he says. “They’ve checked the whole database, and there’s no one yet. Until more people sign up, they’re still waiting.”
“It takes five minutes. It’s completely free. And you could change someone’s life.”
