"I don't remember the details of the moment when they called me and told me that someone needed me as a bone marrow donor, but I immediately agreed. I don't feel any heroism, I just made a decision that seemed right," says Ilya.

Before the donation, Ilya checked into a hotel and continued to work remotely. For five days, he received injections of a drug that releases hematopoietic stem cells into the bloodstream. During the stimulation, Ilya was bothered by unpleasant symptoms, but the young man knew that it was temporary. The apheresis procedure itself went smoothly.

After the donation, Ilya began to think more about the scale and significance of donation: "When I started writing about bone marrow donation in a blog, I realized that there are not so many donors in Russia. But if you think about it from a personal point of view, you never know which of us or our loved ones may need help. It would be good if the Registry was large at such times, and the chance of finding a donor was real."

We thank Ilya for his responsiveness and courage! Thanks to such donors, patients get a chance at life.