Over the past decade, I've met hundreds of people who have devoted their careers to cell therapy, an experience that has been both enriching and humbling. I've long been unsettled that the voices of donors, both autologous and allogeneic, are rarely heard. At the first cell therapy conference I attended, a CAR‑T manufacturing flowchart was displayed and listed the first step in the process as "order leukopak." I wondered then “Do scientists consider the person behind the samples and products they receive?” The more time I spend in this field, the clearer it becomes that donors need a platform, a place for their voices to be heard. This page is dedicated to doing exactly that - sharing patient and donor stories.

Donor 1: May 2026 Autologous Donor

Jim, a high school art teacher, was a patient diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). He reports his first symptom was fatigue that was soon followed by swollen lymph nodes in his neck. He received an ultrasound scan followed by an ultrasound-guided lymph node biopsy. The pathology was reportedly negative. However, with a severely elevated white blood cell count, his primary care physician ordered a bone marrow biopsy which showed Jim had MCL.

As with many MCL patients, his first-line treatment was rituximab combined with maxi‑CHOP chemotherapy. He reported also using Reiki therapy (a Japanese, non-invasive energy healing therapy where practitioners place hands on a patient to channel "universal life force energy"). While chemotherapy and Reiki initially worked, Jim eventually required a bone marrow transplant. Jim described the stem-cell apheresis collection procedure (not performed by OBI) as awful, experiencing symptoms consistent with a citrate reaction from inadequate calcium management during the collection. The first day’s collection yielded too few cells, and he had to endure a second day of collection. After the transplant and everything he’d endured, Jim said the most painful part of recovery was when his eyelashes started to grow back - a detail that surprised me.  With few resources available, the financial strain of his transplant caused him to declare medical bankruptcy. 

Unfortunately, eight years after his transplant, Jim began feeling tired again; his mantle cell lymphoma had returned, this time aggressively and to make matters even worse, his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

At this stage in his treatment his oncologist prescribed Tecartus (brexucabtagene autoleucel). Jim underwent his T‑cell harvest apheresis procedure at OBI and described the collection and the care as outstanding. During the procedure he met and became immediate friends with one of the OBI physicians. They often swapped journal articles and case reports regarding cancer therapies. It was five months after apheresis before Jim received his CAR T‑cell therapy. He says he felt better almost immediately, and today all visible and detectable signs of cancer are gone. During his treatment he says Kite Pharma and the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge in Oklahoma City went out of their way to provide free meals and lodging for him and his family. He stated he wished he had a support group to talk to as he went through this long and complicated process.

Since his treatment, Jim has become a strong advocate for Reiki therapy and founded a nonprofit organization, Studio 433 Zen. He believes medical care would benefit from integrating both Western and Eastern approaches to medicine and credits meditation as a major part of his healing.