• Los Angeles high school senior Vaughn Wilson and two-time cancer survivor Lynn Leiro of Alhambra, California, will meet their unrelated donors for the first time at City of Hope’s annual BMT Reunion on Friday, May 1, on the Duarte campus.
• The reunion marks the 50^th anniversary of City of Hope’s BMT program – one of the most innovative, longest-running and most successful transplant programs in the country with more than 20,000 transplants performed since 1976.
• A BMT replaces bone marrow with healthy stem cells, restoring a body’s ability to produce new blood and immune cells and eliminate blood cancers

At an age when most teenagers are focused on school, sports and the future, Los Angeles teenager Vaughn Wilson was fighting for his life.

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Vaughn Wilson will meet his unrelated donor for the first time at City of Hope’s BMT Reunion on May 1, 2026.

Diagnosed with leukemia just days after Christmas in 2022, the then‑15‑year‑old would soon rely on a bone marrow transplant — and the generosity of a donor he had never met — to survive.

On May 1, Wilson, now 18, will meet his German donor for the first time at City of Hope’s BMT Reunion in Duarte – an event that coincides with a major milestone: the 50th anniversary of City of Hope’s first bone marrow transplant on May 18, 1976.

For five decades, City of Hope has helped push what is possible in bone marrow transplantation and cellular therapy – proving that bone marrow transplants could be performed safely in patients with blood cancers and HIV, finding ways to do a transplant when no perfect donor match existed and opening transplants to older and sicker patients who would once have been told they were not healthy or young enough to receive them.

Along the way, the program has advanced a generation of scientific discoveries that paved the way for modern cellular therapy. Nearly 800 patients undergo BMTs at City of Hope each year.

“Bone marrow transplant has always been about giving patients an opportunity for cure,” said Stephen J. Forman, M.D., who directs City of Hope’s Hematologic Malignancies Research Institute and the T Cell Therapeutics Research Laboratories. “For some patients, it’s part of their first treatment plan; for others it comes later. In every case the goal is the same: to match them with the right donor, support them through the procedure safely and give hope that the treatment results in a cure.”

A lifesaving match across continents

For Wilson, the meeting represents both a deeply personal moment and a reflection of decades of progress in a lifesaving field that made his survival possible.

An avid cyclist and skier, Wilson had spent the months before his diagnosis racing bikes and hiking. But unexplained exhaustion and debilitating back pain sent him to the hospital, where testing confirmed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

For his family, the diagnosis carried added weight. Wilson’s sister had also been diagnosed with ALL and successfully treated several years earlier.

“I had just done a 100‑mile bike race a few months earlier,” Wilson said. “But then I couldn’t finish rides I had done dozens of times before. And my back pain got so bad I could barely walk.”

After chemotherapy failed to fully eliminate the cancer, Wilson was referred to City of Hope, where his care team recommended a bone marrow transplant using unrelated donor stem cells.

Within months, a compatible donor was identified through DKMS, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to finding bone marrow donors.

“I remember feeling so relieved knowing there was someone out there who wanted to donate,” Wilson said. “You don’t know who they are or where they’re from. You just know they chose to help a stranger.”

That donor was Johanna Seeger, 24, of Düsseldorf, Germany.

In July 2023, Wilson underwent weeks of intensive chemotherapy and total-body radiation to prepare his body for transplant. On July 25, 2023, donor stem cells were infused through an IV.

“That little bag (of stem cells) changed everything,” said Wilson, now a senior at Pasadena’s Sequoyah School. “It literally gave me my life back.”

Following the transplant, Wilson’s immune system was rebuilt from zero, and he had months of recovery.

But today, he is cancer-free. He looks forward to graduating from high school this year and going to college. Wilson lives an active life that includes cycling, skiing and backpacking.

“Vaughn came to us at a very difficult moment. Standard treatments were no longer working,” said Nicole A. Karras, M.D., Wilson’s doctor and City of Hope pediatric hematologist. “A bone marrow transplant gave Vaughn the opportunity to return to the active life he loves.”

A breast cancer survivor’s second chance at life: Lynn Leiro’s story

Lynn Leiro, 40, was diagnosed with leukemia in late 2023, just weeks after completing treatment for triple-negative breast cancer. After experiencing severe headaches and abnormal blood work, she sought specialized care at City of Hope, where she learned she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

“Everything I knew about cancer changed overnight,” Leiro said. “I was told I wasn’t leaving the hospital and that I would need a transplant.”

Leiro underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy that failed to bring her disease into remission. In May 2024, she received chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, an innovative treatment that uses genetically modified immune cells to target cancer, a therapy that City of Hope helped to develop.

CAR T-cell therapy successfully put her leukemia into remission and made her able to undergo a BMT. She underwent a transplant at City of Hope on August 23, 2024.

“Lynn’s case reflects both the complexity of blood cancers and the importance of having access to advanced, specialized care,” said Vaibhav Agrawal, M.D., M.B.A., Leiro’s doctor and City of Hope hematologist. “Through CAR T-cell therapy and transplantation, we were able to help her reach remission and move into recovery. Her resilience and advocacy for herself were critical throughout that process.”

Leiro said her donor – Patrick Abboud, 28, of Asheville, North Carolina – gave her something beyond survival.

“Because of my donor, I was able to see my daughter graduate high school and go off to college,” she said through tears. “I get more time with my family, more time to make memories. I’ll never be able to repay that gift.”

Leiro said she plans to host a party with family and friends who also want to thank Abboud for his selfless act of donation through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

Both Wilson and Leiro encouraged people to register to join the bone marrow registries through DKMS or NMDP.

City of Hope’s BMT legacy

City of Hope’s BMT program is internationally recognized for advancing BMT science, CAR T-cell therapy and personalized cancer care.

“When City of Hope performed its first bone marrow transplant in 1976, the field was still in its infancy,” said Dr. Forman, who joined City of Hope in 1978. “Early on in the BMT program, we made a promise to keep pushing the science forward so that curing blood cancers would become safer, smarter and available to more patients. That commitment continues to guide us today.”

In the five decades since, more than 20,000 patients have undergone bone marrow transplants at City of Hope, and many remain closely connected to the program long after their treatment ends. Throughout the process, BMT patients are supported by multidisciplinary teams that remain engaged long after discharge through extended follow-up and a survivorship community that continues for years.

“Over decades of refinement, City of Hope helped transform BMTs into a treatment that gives more patients a second chance at life,” said Dr. Forman. “We’ve intentionally taken on the most challenging cases — patients without perfect donor matches, patients living with HIV and blood cancer, older patients with complex medical needs — because progress in BMT medicine has always depended on asking and answering who else we can help.”

For patients like Wilson and Leiro, the reunion is more than a celebration — it is a rare moment to meet the people whose generosity made a cure possible and to reflect on the science, compassion and persistence that have defined City of Hope’s BMT program for 50 years.

About City of Hope

City of Hope's mission is to make hope a reality for all touched by cancer and diabetes. Founded in 1913, City of Hope has grown into one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, and one of the leading research centers for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses. City of Hope research has been the basis for numerous breakthrough cancer medicines, as well as human synthetic insulin and monoclonal antibodies. With an independent, National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center that is ranked among the nation’s top cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report at its core, City of Hope’s uniquely integrated model spans cancer care, research and development, academics and training, and a broad philanthropy program that powers its work. City of Hope’s growing national system includes its Los Angeles campus, a network of clinical care locations across Southern California, a new cancer center in Orange County, California, and cancer treatment centers and outpatient facilities in the Atlanta, Chicago and Phoenix areas. City of Hope’s affiliated group of organizations includes Translational Genomics Research Institute and AccessHope^TM. For more information about City of Hope, follow us on Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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