Manitowoc native and 2012 Lincoln High School graduate, Alyssa Kohls, is a life saver. Literally. Two years ago, Kohls donated bone marrow to a young girl in need of a transplant. The 25-year-old Registered Nurse for Gunderson Health System in La Crosse, said her donation journey all began in 2015.
Kohls was a member of the UW-Eau Claire Student Nurse Association when they hosted a bone marrow registry drive to do cheek-swabs and fill out questionnaires. She recalled being there, trying to get other people to sign up to donate, and she thought, “It would be rather hypocritical if I didn’t sign up myself.” She then went ahead and got on the bone marrow registry. The daughter of Julie & Kevin Kohls of Manitowoc tells SeehaferNews.com “there are those who spend a lifetime on the registry & never get called.”
In late Fall of 2016, while Alyssa was working at Holy Family Memorial, she was contacted. She told us that she received a call that her “cheek swab DNA cells had matched a young girl in need of bone marrow. They were wondering if I was willing to come in and do some further blood testing to see if I was the perfect match for her.”
Alyssa admitted her “stomach just dropped when speaking with them on the phone, not expecting that at all.” She signed up for a reason and further blood tests confirmed the perfect match with 9-year-old Laynie Howser of Sinton, Texas. Numerous appointments followed in Green Bay & Milwaukee as a lead up to the donation in April of 2017 at Froedert Hospital. Kohls said the only thing she knew was the recipient had severe aplastic anemia. A year later, they were able to exchange contact information and she learned where Laynie lived.
This past April, Alyssa met the now 11-year-old girl, exactly 2 years after her bone marrow anniversary. With nervousness and being anxious, Kohls, accompanied by her boyfriend Alex Shimon, flew to Texas for their first meeting. Laynie and her family were waiting at the gate for Alyssa and Alex, and Alyssa immediately “gave her the biggest hug.” She was overwhelmed with emotion, saying “To be able to just physically be there, and see her, and see that she is doing so well and so healthy…was so reassuring. It was awesome.”
Alyssa Kohls said she and Laynie stay in touch sending each other gifts for special occasions. If you would like more information about possibly being a bone marrow donor go to BeTheMatch.org.
