Volunteer Delivering Blood Stem Cells Pushes Bipartisan Bill To Reauthorize National Transplant Program

Father Who Delivered Blood Stem Cells Pushes National Transplant Program Reauthorization

USA: Scott McGregor, a father from El Dorado Hills, has turned a personal miracle into a mission after a blood stem cell transplant saved his daughter’s life more than a decade ago. McGregor now volunteers delivering blood stem cells by hand to hospitals and has become a leading advocate for expanding the nation’s transplant infrastructure, crediting the National Marrow Donor Program registry with finding the stranger who matched his child.

The donor’s journey began at a Cincinnati Reds game, where he swabbed his cheek and joined the NMDP registry. About a year and a half later he was contacted and asked to donate; the cells were flown to California and used in the transplantation that gave McGregor’s daughter, Taryn, a lasting recovery. Taryn is now 20 and described by her family as completely cured of the rare blood disorder that threatened her life.

McGregor has taken that story to Capitol Hill, pressing a bipartisan bill to reauthorize and expand the National Transplant Program and to strengthen donor registries and delivery systems. His advocacy highlights ongoing gaps: between 2020 and 2024 more than 8,600 Californians searched for a lifesaving donor, underscoring urgent demand for more registered potential matches and faster logistics for getting donations to patients.

Advocates point to the NMDP as a model registry that can grow with support. Anyone who wants to join the registry and potentially save a life can learn more about signing up at NMDP.org/join. The campaign frames donor registration and improved transplantation logistics as measures that can turn individual acts into lifesaving national capacity.

Video originally published on 2026-03-30 13:37:57