Donn Landholm needed a stem cell donor after treatment for leukemia. The match came from someone he had never met: Michigan firefighter and EMT Morgan Chalup.
Her donation in 2025 became part of his treatment. In September 2026, the University of Houston football staff member finally had the chance to thank her in person.
Featured photograph: Archival location photograph: the University of Houston football stadium, not the donor reunion. Courtesy of Brian Reading.
Photo: Brian Reading, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph reproduced without editorial alteration.
A family experience led her to register
Reporting by Michigan's 9&10 News describes Chalup joining the NMDP registry after a relative received a transplant.
Years later, a message told her she might be a match for a patient. She responded and went through the donation process in Grand Rapids.
The collection took about seven hours. It was a non-surgical collection of blood stem cells through an apheresis machine.
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The patient was a longtime football coach
Landholm, a special assistant to Houston's head coach, had spent decades working in football. His family did not provide a suitable donor match, and a registry search led to Chalup.
Houston Athletics confirmed the connection, describing the transplant and his return to the sidelines.
The story should not be simplified into a claim that every transplant has the same outcome. This was Landholm's treatment experience, reported by him, his donor and his university.
Two families finally met
A PEOPLE interview carried by AOL described the later meeting, after the required period of anonymity.
Chalup and her family traveled to Houston. Landholm and his family welcomed them, and she was recognized during a football weekend.
Photo: Kenneth C. Zirkel, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Photograph reproduced without editorial alteration.
Her decision began years before she knew whose life her donation might affect. His gratitude came after months of treatment and recovery.
The meeting put faces and families behind a donor match. A firefighter who had registered because of her own family's experience could see the person her choice had helped.