College football player to donate life-saving bone marrow to 9-year-old

Matt Popek.jpeg

TCNJ junior Matt Popek, center, will donate bone marrow to a 9-year-old girl who has leukemia

(Courtesy photo)

EWING -- College of New Jersey running back Matt Popek is about to make his biggest play yet -- and it's off the field.

The 20-year-old found out in October that he was a match for a 9-year-old girl who has leukemia and needs a life-saving bone-marrow transplant.

Popek signed up in the spring when the football team hosted a bone marrow registry drive on campus. The "Get in the Game, Save a Life" drive, a national initiative that was begun by Villanova Coach Andy Talley, is designed to boost the number of donors.

MORE: TCNJ football players go all out for bone marrow registration drive

Popek, a junior criminology major from Newton, had his cheek swabbed for a tissue sample, then largely forgot about it.

"I was hoping that I could be picked, but I knew that it was so rare," he said.

But he got the call in October that he was a potential match for the patient.

"When she told me, my first response was, 'I'm completely willing and able to donate when and if necessary,'" he said.

After some blood work, Popek was deemed the best match and will undergo surgery on Nov. 24.

"He's an outstanding young man," head coach Wayne Dickens said. "There aren't very many distinct opportunities you get in life to have the possibility of saving or at least extending someone else's life. He's viewing it as a privilege to have that opportunity."

Each year, more than 12,000 patients are diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, such as leukemia, whose best hope for a cure is a marrow transplant, according to Be The Match. A patient's likelihood of finding a matching donor on the organization's registry is estimated to range from 66 to 93 percent.

Dickens said TCNJ's drive registered 540 potential donors.

"If through our efforts we could add to the registry size to give someone a better chance to be able to find a match for a bone marrow donation, then that's huge," he said.

Popek knows little about the patient -- just her gender and age and the fact that her situation is "urgent."

A week before the marrow extraction, the girl will undergo chemotherapy that will not only kill the cancerous cells but also leave her immune system virtually defenseless.

"My bone marrow is supposed to reboot her immune system," Popek said. "After the 17th, she's very dependent on me giving the bone marrow."

He will be under anesthesia for the one- to two-hour procedure, during which the surgeon will make two small incisions in the back of his pelvic bone to extract the bone marrow.

After a year, he will be told who the girl is and given contact info to get in touch with her if he chooses.

Popek said he is most inspired by her fight.

"This 9-year-old is going through so much," he said. "People call me brave, but she's the brave person in this situation. ... I'm just blessed and happy with the opportunity that I can do something for her and hopefully, she can enjoy a healthy life."

Editor's Note: This story was updated to include comments from head coach Wayne Dickens.

Cristina Rojas may be reached at crojas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @CristinaRojasTT. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.

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