Emily Coiro, 34, of Totowa, New Jersey, works with blood cancer patients every day and knows the power of stem cell donation. Her job as a Registered Nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center’s Hematology Department is a calling from her grandmother, Marlene, who fought leukemia and lymphoma.
It was watching her grandmother’s health journey that prompted her to become a stem cell transplant nurse, caring for patients with blood cancers. She also signed up for the registry, willing to donate stem cells if she were a match.
“I love my Grammy. She’s always been my biggest supporter — she’s helped me be who I am,” Coiro told People Magazine last month. She was featured in the Oct. 6 edition.
“Blood cancer is very special to me, because of her,” she says of her grandmother. “She’s always been my biggest supporter — she’s helped me become who I am today.”
Aside from going into the field, she also went online to order free sample kits from NMDP (formerly known as the National Marrow Donor Program and Be The Match). She got a kit for her husband, too.
“We did it together,” Coiro says, noting it’s just a simple cheek swab.
“I actually thought my husband, being 100% Italian, would be a great match for everybody in New Jersey. Northern New Jersey is like 100% Italian,” she joked. “I never thought they’d call me.”
By 2024, her grandmother was well and in remission, and Emily was in her fifth year as an inpatient nurse at Hackensack University Medical Center’s stem cell transplantation and cellular therapy program. In this role, she cared for patients undergoing stem cell and bone marrow transplants to treat blood cancers such as leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
“Sometimes transplant is the only option for survival,” she says. “It can be very scary — and I just want to be their greatest support system.”
Getting The Call
When she signed up for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) registry early in her career as a transplant nurse, she never expected to get a call.
But five years later, the call came. Just weeks after accepting a new position within the blood and marrow transplant division at the John Theurer Cancer Center, she received a call from NMDP telling her she had just matched with a leukemia patient in need of a stem cell transplant.
“My jaw just dropped to the floor. I said, ‘Are you sure? Are you sure it’s really me? Am I the right person?” she says.
She was assured she was the match, and she immediately began the testing and screening process to ensure she qualified to donate.
The Journey — And A Sign
“I was so nervous,” Emily says. She knew what to expect, but was afraid of something that would disqualify her.
“I had to make sure that nothing happened to me, because if it had, it would have jeopardized the recipient.”
When the day for donation finally came, it happened to be her grandmother’s birthday.
“This is a sign that everything will be okay,” she recalls thinking.
Her journey has come full circle. Now, as a nurse practitioner at the John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Program (JTCC), Emily draws on her own experience to prepare and support other donors who are giving their stem cells to strangers.
“This life-saving opportunity is something I will always be incredibly grateful for,” she says. “I just want to do everything I can to help.”
While Emily has never met the person who received her stem cells, she thinks about the recipient every day. And she knows her grandmother does too.