When he was a medical student, Christopher Trautman, M.D., registered as a donor with Be the Match, the organization that matches bone marrow donors to patients in need. Ten years later, he received a call that would change someone's life.

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When Christopher Trautman, M.D., saw the Texas area code pop up on his cellphone in September 2021, he assumed the call was spam.

"I still had my Texas number," says Dr. Trautman, a Lone Star State native who is now a nephrologist at Mayo Clinic in Florida.

He didn't answer. But it turned out the call was far from spam.

"It was a coordinator from Be the Match," Dr. Trautman says. "She said I'd matched with someone and asked if I'd consider donating. I still have the voicemail."

Dr. Trautman had registered with the organization as a potential bone marrow donor while a medical student in Texas. "I'd forgotten I'd even done it," he says of the simple cheek swab that was required to register.

He immediately returned the call.

"I said of course I'd donate," says Dr. Trautman. "No hesitation."

Just 1 in 430 get chance to donate

One of the first people he told about his decision was his wife, Angela Trautman. At the time, she was a nurse caring for bone marrow transplant patients at Mayo Clinic.

"There was an element of surprise that Chris matched," she says. "You just don't know if you'll be a match or not."

According to the Health Resources & Services Administration, just 1 in 430 people in the United States who register on Be the Match will eventually become donors.

While she was surprised her husband was a match, Angela Trautman wasn't surprised by his decision to donate. "It exemplifies his caring, giving nature," she says.

After undergoing blood tests and a physical exam, Dr. Trautman was approved as a donor. Be the Match staff arranged for him to donate at a program-affiliated medical center in Michigan.

"Angela and I flew out on a Friday night, got to the donation center Saturday morning, and were back home on Sunday," he says. "I was treated like a prince the entire time."

Dr. Trautman was able to donate via peripheral blood stem cell donation, which he says "felt a lot like a blood donation."

The process took about five hours.

"We binged on Squid Game," Dr. Trautman says. "Afterward, I got a free T-shirt and took some photos."

On 'being the match'

A few days after Dr. Trautman's donation, Be the Match staff reached out to let him know that his stem cells had been transplanted. He does not know who received them.

"I hope everything has gone well for them," Dr. Trautman says. "I'm glad I was able to do it."

Since his donation, Dr. Trautman has worn a "Be the Match" pin on his nametag. Patients sometimes ask about the pin and why he wears it.

"It's added another layer to some of my conversations with patients," he says. They're conversations he's happy to have. "It's another way to bring awareness to this amazing program."

Dr. Trautman says he'd encourage everyone to consider becoming a donor.

"It's low risk and high reward," he says of donating. "It's so easy to do, and the impact is so great. Be the Match makes it as easy as possible to give this invaluable gift of life. It takes very little effort on the donor's part. Why wouldn't you do it?"

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You can learn more about donation or register to become a donor here. To learn more about Be the Match, which was started by the parents of Laura Graves, the first person to receive a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor, watch this video.

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