Troy McKinley donated stem cells to help a stranger with blood cancer.

Think about your birthday wish this year? Did it involve saving someone's life?

A Reynoldsburg man's wish did.

Thirty-five-year-olf Troy McKinely wanted to make sure his birthday wish made a difference in someone else's life.

I wanted to do something big if possible. I've never donated blood before I don't even like needles, he said.

Two years ago, he decided he wanted to make his birthday more about gifts, and instead give the gift of life.

I thought it would be great to save a life so what can I do to help, he said

He found DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow and blood stem cell donor center.

The company sent him a swab kit and he waited to see if he would be a match. Two and a half years later, he was notified that his stem cells matched a patient who was diagnosed with blood cancer.

It was kind of like 'wow this is big. I don't know this person. I don't know anything about him or her.' It's kind of amazing feeling that it could be better for somebody else, he said.

McKinley said it only took a few hours to give the needed stem cells that doctors would later implant to the unknown patient.

I'm hoping that this gentleman I helped is feeling better for it and helped him in some way. Maybe it didn't give him everything back but he has some more time and we all want more time in the world so hopefully, it helped him, he said.

Time, we can all use more of it, but how many of us take the time to think about how we can give others more days on this earth.

It was a birthday wish McKinley says he'd do again knowing his kindness gave a stranger something more valuable than anything.

I think it's amazing to save someone's life. It's an incredible experience, he said.

About DKMS

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Reynoldsburg man makes unusual birthday wish: 'I wanted to save someone's life' - 10TV

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