Steve Collins' faith helped him overcome his fear of needles and helped him save a life.The Charlotte resident, who had to be nudged into signing up
for the National Marrow Donor program five years ago, became a donor in 1997. As a result, he saved the life of a mother dying of leukemia.
"I have always tried to live a Christian life so I figured if Jesus could give his blood for us, then I could give a little bit of blood to save a life," he said.
Collins, a member of Macedonia Baptist Church, joined the national registry after hearing someone speak at church about the need for more African Americans to become marrow donors.
In order to register, a small amount of blood is taken from the person which is used to register the blood type for a possible match. Marrow transplants require matching tissue traits of the
donor and patient. Because the traits are inherited, an African American donor will most likely match another African American.
Since the process involved needles, Collins was more than a little hesitant.
"I tried to avoid doing it and in fact I was the last person to be typed. I didnąt want to get stuck with a needle, so it took one of the members of the deacon board to finally convince me to do it," he said.
"He was like "If I'm going to do this, so are you."
After getting typed, Collins forgot about the registry until he got the call that he was needed to give marrow.
A transplant was made in March 1997 in Seattle and it helped save the live of Tonya Ghant. The two didnąt meet face to face until last month.
"Once they contacted me and told me what they needed, it took just 30 seconds for me to agree and to through with it," Collins said. "Itąs just a wonderful feeling to help someone and I
feel that God selected me to save her life. The feeling it gave me to help her goes beyond words."
