Florida man meets boy saved by his stem cell donation: ‘Just incredible’

The Brief

  • In 2021, Nate Wood matched as a blood stem cell donor for 1-year-old Jonah Hoots and saved his life.
  • The match came 12 years after a quick mouth swab when he joined the DKMS blood stem cell donor bank.
  • In May, Wood met the boy whose life he saved for the first time.

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. A rare disease brought together a Pasco County man and a 1-year-old boy from Orange County, California. Three years later, the two met for the first time in person.

The backstory:

Nate Wood, a Wesley Chapel husband and father of two, said it all started with a quick mouth swab in 2009.

Story continues

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