Scott participating in our 2022 Tour de TC rides
Whether he’s recruiting more potential donors to the Be The Match Registry®, speaking at events, delivering life-saving cells to transplant centers, or cycling to raise awareness and funds, Scott is “all in” to deliver hope to more patient families. After all, it’s a gift his own family received about 10 years ago.
Heartbreak—and then a hero
When his daughter, Taryn, was just a young girl, Scott experienced firsthand one of fatherhood’s worst fears: His little girl had become dangerously ill. Taryn was diagnosed with severe aplastic anemia (SAA), a rare but life-threatening blood disorder. Fortunately, they found a selfless donor through Be The Match® and Taryn was able to receive a life-saving bone marrow transplant. His daughter is now completely healed and a thriving 17-year-old who will graduate high school next year.
Moving the mission forward in many ways
After his daughter received her life-saving transplant, Scott felt moved to help other patients and families. As an avid Be The Match advocate, Scott facilitates many of the necessary steps required to save lives through transplant. “It’s all about lining up the next miracle for the next family,” he says.
Scott has hosted numerous drives to help add more potential donors to the registry. Last year alone he put on 13 registration drives which added 1,000 people to the registry—and 85% of those members come from ethnically diverse backgrounds. That percentage is a priority right now, as the odds of finding an available matching donor vary widely depending on a patient’s ethnic background.
For five years now Scott has also had the honor of hand-delivering blood stem cells to patients here and across the world.
“To say it’s an honor is an understatement,” Scott says. On each trip he always makes sure to thank the lab personnel, in their native language, for the life-saving work they do every day—which brings (happy) tears to their eyes on occasion.
While registering more donors and hand-delivering cells is already heroic enough, Scott doesn’t stop there. He also does speaking engagements to raise awareness and is active in legislative efforts to advance transplant research and access.
Going the distance
While Scott has clocked in a lot of miles as a courier, he has recently been focusing on another journey—and this one involves a bicycle.
Last year Scott signed up for Be The Match’s inaugural Tour de TC—a series of multi-day bike tours designed to raise funds and awareness of the life-saving mission.
This year he’s doing it again and he’s even co-leading two of the teams. The California bike tour begins May 22 and will take riders around wine country and to the Pacific coast. In August he’ll lead another team as they pedal around Puget Sound and even cross over to Victoria, BC.
“It all goes back to bringing hope to other patients and families who are still searching for a cure, or who will be in a situation down the road where they will need a cure,” says Scott.
Both last year and this year his jersey has the names of patients with blood cancers or other disorders who he is riding in honor of. The 2023 Tour de TC runs from May through August and includes six scenic, closed-loop tours of varying length and difficulty. All tours are safe and designed to go at the pace of the collective group—not the fastest cyclist.
“It’s not a race; it’s a journey,” says Scott. “Hope is that way, too.”
Want to bike alongside Scott and other inspiring individuals to help bring hope to patients? Sign up for one of our Tour de TC rides! You can also help Scott meet his fundraising goal by making a gift of any size today.
