Consider this:

Jack catching some sweet mountain air

Just about 18 months ago, I wrote in this column a letter of heartfelt thanks to an anonymous donor whose marrow now resides inside the bones of a dear, local teenage lad. In the time since our friend Jack (then 14) was rushed, on the eve of starting his freshman year at Tam High, to the emergency room with dangerously low blood counts, a lot has happened. Jack was diagnosed with a rare blood disease called Severe Aplastic Anemia, which, if left untreated, is fatal.

Faced with this diagnosis, Jack endured three bone marrow biopsies, more than 25 blood transfusions, five days of chemo (Jack rocked the bald look), six weeks in the hospital, nine months of home isolation – and, of course, a complete bone marrow transplant.

From the outset of this painful, frightening journey, one critically important question loomed: Would Jack find a bone marrow match? Thanks to the international database run by Be the Match, a global search was on for a healthy stranger between the age of 18 and 44 who had the foresight, generosity and courage to have registered as a potential donor – and whose marrow was compatible with Jack’s.

As with nearly all cases requiring a bone marrow transplant, time was of the essence. Jack was being kept alive, quite literally, by regular blood transfusions (yes, we made a few jokes about vampires). The search for Jack’s match was particularly daunting because, as a Chinese dude, he almost certainly needed a donor of Asian descent.

Incredibly, Jack found a donor, and in record time, too. Jack knows his magnificent marrow comes straight from a guy in Australia in his early 20s (cheers, mate!). Jack has corresponded a bit with his donor and hopes one day they will meet in person.

Jack’s life-threatening ordeal made him a candidate for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. And although he really, really, really wanted to meet Kevin Durant, Jack decided to use his Wish to do something really, really, really awesome. Working with a professional video team (the same folks who captured the heartwarming story of Bat Kid in San Francisco in 2014), Jack wrote, helped direct and stars in a Public Service Announcement to spread awareness about registering as a bone marrow donor. Here’s how Jack explains it:

“I’m alive today because someone out there decided to save the life of someone they didn’t even know. But for every 430 people who sign up as a donor, only one person actually goes on to donate. The chances of finding a match are even more slim if you’re a non-white person. If I can get 430 new people to register with Be the Match, that’s one more life that could be saved.”

Registering, says Jack, is simple, easy and painless – all it requires is a simple swab of your cheek. He adds that if you’re too old or too young to register as a donor, you can still help save a life by sharing this information and encouraging others to join the bone marrow registry. You can find out all you need to know right here.

Today, 16-year-old Jack is back doing the things he couldn’t do when he was busy fighting for his life. He’s playing on the Tam tennis team, hanging out with friends and complaining about homework. At the same time, he’s focused on something radically different from most of his peers: Jack is working hard to help save a stranger’s life.

Info: Want to help Jack reach his goal of signing up 430 new bone marrow donors? Register using this link: https://join.bethematch.org/jack

Watch Jack’s PSA here: http://sf.wish.org/news-and-events/news/news-releases/jack-be-the-match.