Stem Cell Transplant Donor, Recipient Meet for First Time at Fenway Park

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After trying chemotherapy to fight acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood cancer, Donnie Lewis, a 56-year-old husband and father of two from Canton, Mass., learned that his best chance to return to health would be through a stem cell transplant. Because Donnie didn’t have any siblings who were a match for this procedure, his care team had to search national registries for a lifesaving donor match.

They found one person who was a perfect match: Daniel Alcantor, a 21-year-old Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. Alcantor donated the stem cells that saved Lewis’s life.

Lewis and Alcantor, strangers before the lifesaving procedure, met in person for the first time and threw out the ceremonial first pitch together at the Boston Red Sox/Cleveland Indians game on August 18.

After meeting for the first time, and throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Aug. 18, 2015.
After meeting for the first time, Lewis and Alcantor threw out the first pitch at Fenway Park on Aug. 18, 2015.
Lewis and Alcantor, meeting for the first time at Fenway Park.
Lewis and Alcantor, meeting for the first time at Fenway Park.
Alcantor and Lewis, meeting for the first time at Fenway Park.
Alcantor and Lewis, meeting for the first time at Fenway Park.

Learn more about Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Stem Cell Transplant Program.