According to DKMS, after witnessing his wife bravely battle breast cancer, Hendrickson, 52, knew how terrifying it was to face a life-threatening diagnosis, so when DKMS called and asked him to donate his blood stem cells in December 2022, he agreed to move forward without hesitation.

“The whole process was a one-day donation. It took six hours. It’s kind of like doing a long blood donation,” Hendrickson said.

“I wasn’t a huge fan of having that needle in my arm but it was a worthy cause,” he said about the donation process he went through in March of 2023.

Hendrickson’s selfless donation gave Douglas Jantz from Turlock, California, a second chance at life. Jantz celebrated his 70th birthday in May of this year, thanks to Hendrickson’s donation, and a year after the successful blood stem cell transplant, Hendrickson and Jantz decided to meet in person.

Brian Hendrickson holds up a bag of his blood which contains life-saving blood stem cells that were donated to save a California man from acute myeloid leukemia. Photo from DKMS.

“During the first year after donation we were only allowed to correspond through DKMS,” Hendrickson said, explaining how DKMS would forward Hendrickson’s messages to Jantz.

“After the one-year mark we both signed a release of information and then we were able to make direct contact. … We made our first communication at the end of March of this year,” Hendrickson said.

Prior to this communication, Hendrickson had no idea where Jantz lived in the U.S. or if he even lived in the U.S. at all. Hendrickson only knew his donation was going to a 69-year-old male.

“Tomorrow I’d like to drive him down to Bismarck to meet some of my family. Saturday morning we’d like to take him up to our cabin at Lake Metigoshe to spend a nice relaxing weekend up there,” Hendrickson said. “He’s probably never seen a canola field in full bloom. They’re beautiful right now.”

According to DKMS, the international nonprofit organization is dedicated to the fight against blood cancers and other blood-related illnesses by inspiring people around the world to register as blood stem cell donors.

The donor journey begins with a simple swab of the cheek, which can be the action that leads to a second chance at life for a patient in need.

Additionally, DKMS works closely with patients and their families, from diagnosis to transplant and beyond.

Originally founded in Germany in 1991 by Dr. Peter Harf, DKMS has entities in South Africa, Poland, Chile, the United Kingdom, the United States and India.

The U.S. office was started in 2004. Globally, DKMS has registered more than 12 million people and facilitated more than 110,000 transplants.