Atlanta and Texas women brought together through lifesaving donation

ATLANTA - Donna Demus and Tiana Brashears live hundreds of miles away from each other, but they were brought together for an important moment in both of their lives through the organization Be The Match.

The national nonprofit connects donors with patients in need of blood stem cell transplants for sickle cell disease, leukemia, and other blood cancers.

Brashears says she has always been a "giver," and because of that pull in her spirit, Donna's life was saved.

Demus is from Texas and was diagnosed with myelofibrosis back in 2017.

She says the news was devastating, and doctors told her she would need a stem cell transplant to help with treatment.

Little did she know, her donor would be found nearly 800 miles away in Atlanta.

"I couldn't know anything at all about the person until a whole year after the donation," Demus said. "Then when the year hit, I found out her name and everything. But we couldn't meet because of COVID."

Demus and Brashears became the 100,000 donor-recipient match for the Be The Match organization.

Brashears says once she found out about the organization it was a no-brainer because she's always been a giver in some way.

"But when it comes to donating to people in our community. We need more Black recipients, so we need more Black donors," she said.

Demus says she's witnessed times when people need donors but didn't get the help in time.

"I go to a big mass church - or megachurch - and there have been people who were sick and needed matches. And I can tell you for sure there are two people who are no longer on this earth anymore because there was no match," she said.

She encourages others to be willing to donate because you never know whose life you could save.

Demus says she feels like there's nothing she could do to show how much she appreciates Brashears.

"All of my dreams, wishes, plans and thoughts, failures and shortcomings - none of that would've happened wIthout her. and that to me is priceless," she said.

The two women say they plan to meet up with each other again in Texas.

Be The Match says they urgently need more Black donors to save Black patients and finding out if you're a match for someone in need of a transplant starts with a simple swab of your cheek.

For more information about possibly becoming a donor, visit the organization's website.

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