StemCell Therapy

For two years, Alyssa Hillpot didn't know the name of the man who saved her life.

His blood-forming cells work in her body, taking the place of the unhealthy cells that kept her in and out of the hospital during the prime of her life.

"We're bonded by that," she said.

She wrote him a letter through her doctor, but privacy rules prevented them from learning each others' name, email or phone number.

A year later, he wrote back. And last summer, the two agreed to share personal information and talked online through Skype.

She learned her stem cell donor, Stephan Mages, is a German medical student and aspiring neurologist who has traveled around the world. He learned she almost died from pneumonia and fought non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, multiple times.

Now, at 26, Hillpot, of Phillipsburg, N.J., has been cancer-free for about two years and wants to help other blood cancer patients find the person who can help them recover. The young cancer survivor will be leading the inaugural Leukemia & Lymphoma Society 5K Run/ Walk Saturday at Notre Dame High School in Bethlehem Township, an event organized by her doctor at St. Luke's Hospital-Warren Campus.

Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are expected to make up a tenth of the cancers diagnosed in the country this year, according to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Money raised at Saturday's event will go to the organization, which funds research and treatment.

Dr. Eugene Decker, Hillpot's primary care doctor, said 148 people were signed up by Tuesday night. He expects that number to grow. Those attending the event also can join a bone marrow donors' registry by giving a sample of their DNA through a cheek swab.

Decker, a lifelong runner and an assistant cross-country coach at Notre Dame, got the idea from runners he met at a half-marathon at Walt Disney World in Florida. The race, benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society , draws tens of thousands of people. And when stormy weather prompted organizers to cancel the race earlier this year, he felt a stronger resolve to organize his own race, he said.

"We had to complete what we started," he said.

He's inspired by Hillpot, he said, because she beat back death multiple times.

"Never give up. Always be a fighter. That's a story I can tell over and over again," he said.

In his three-decade career in medicine, Decker has had to tell dozens of patients they have blood cancer. About a quarter of them died, he said. In the hopes of helping more people survive, Decker is using the run to raise awareness of bone marrow donation, a process that he said has become less invasive. He hopes the race will continue annually.

After graduating college, Hillpot found out she had cancer two months into her job teaching preschool. Instead of working her way up in education, she was stuck in cancer treatment and watched her friends build careers, fall in love, get married and have kids.

But now she feels she can start her life.

She's looking for a job in sales, human resources or customer service. She wants to teach, but her doctors warned her against working with young children, considering her fragile immune system.

After fighting cancer, a career change isn't a big deal to Hillpot. She's optimistic about her future.

Her birthday is Jan. 23. But she celebrates another date too: April 25, 2014, the day she got the transplant.

"That's my rebirth," she said.

Bhuang@mcall.com

Twitter @Bhuang2012

610-820-6745

What: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society 5K Run/Walk and one-mile children's walk

When: 9:30 a.m., Saturday.

Where: Notre Dame High School of Green Pond, 3417 Church Road, Bethlehem Township.

What else: Be The Match will be doing on-site testing to find donor matches.

Register online: pretzelcitysports.com, click on calendar

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Cancer survivor to lead inaugural Leukemia & Lymphoma Society 5K Run - Allentown Morning Call

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