How to Save a Life
In 2019, Sydney Duke, B.S. ’23, a freshman Health Science Studies major from Southern California, was eager to embark on her journey to become a physician. When she encountered a representative from Be the Match one day on campus, she was happy to put herself on the National Bone Marrow Donor registry.
Four years later, during her senior year at Baylor, Duke received a call notifying her that she was indeed a match for someone with blood cancer. And she was not just one of several matches — as can be the case during the initial matching stages — she was the only match for this particular patient out of over 19 million individuals in the United States Be the Match Registry.
“When they first called me, my gut reaction was, ‘Of course, I’ll do anything to help.’ My grandfather had lymphoma and my uncle died of lymphoma about 10 years ago, so I was familiar with blood cancers,” she said.
After months of tests and physicals to confirm the match, Duke’s procedure was scheduled, and just a few weeks later, the donation process began. Following five days of preliminary injections, Duke traveled with her mom to Chicago for the eight-hour peripheral blood stem cell collection procedure. When the procedure was finished, Duke’s donation was whisked away to board a plane heading to her matched patient.
The procedure itself is now over, but this experience has and will continue to impact Duke as she completes her studies at Baylor and begins her medical school journey.
Following graduation from Baylor in May, Duke will attend the University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine in San Antonio. She has also received a naval commission through the Health Professions Scholarship Program, in which the United States Military will cover Duke’s medical school tuition and she will have the opportunity to spend most of her rotations in Navy hospitals. After medical school, Duke will have a naval residency before serving four years as a naval officer.
“As I believe we are called to love one another and truly lay down our lives for one another, I was honored to endure any slight discomfort if that meant someone out there got another chance at life,” Duke said. “I would hope someone would do the same thing for me.
“Throughout both college and this donation process, the verse Luke 12:48, ‘From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked,’ has remained at the forefront of my thoughts and motivation. This donation felt like my earthly duty and will forever be one of my life’s greatest blessings and honors.”