Brad Harden
Brad Harden, of Cleveland, was a strong, healthy 22-year-old in 1997. A dedicated weightlifter, he could bench press more than 300 pounds. When he developed a fever, aches, weakness and fatigue, blood tests revealed acute myelogenous leukemia.
Chemotherapy and radiation were able to force his cancer into remission, but not for long. Harden was ultimately placed on the nationwide bone marrow transplant list. As an African-American patient in need of a bone marrow transplant, he was more difficult to match since the number of African-Americans who register as potential bone marrow donors is relatively small. A cord blood stem cell transplant saved his life.
Harden’s experience inspired his sister, Nicole. When her daughter, Jada, was born in January, Nicole donated the umbilical cord blood instead of allowing it to be thrown away. “There’s no doubt that without a cord blood transplant I wouldn’t be here today,” Harden says.