Memphis Grizzlies rookie Cameron Boozer visited Baptist Memorial Hospital on Sept. 22 to encourage the public to donate to the National Marrow Donor Program.
Boozer, selected third overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, had his cord blood donated when he was a baby to cure his older brother Carmani Boozer of sickle cell disease. The story, told to him by his parents, left a mark on him and compelled him to encourage others to register to become a stem cell donor.
"I've seen what it did for my brother, basically be able to give him a healthy life," Boozer said during his visit on World Marrow Donor Day. "Now if you saw him, you would never know he had sickle cell. He's 20 years old now, he's happy, he's living life, he's in college. I think it's something
that's very special; I think it should be available for more people."
Boozer is an ambassador of the NMDP, formerly known as Be The Match, which is a nonprofit organization that operates a registry of blood stem cell donors.
Only 25% of patients in need of a blood stem cell transplant will find a matching donor in their families, according to NMDP. The remaining 75% search the NMDP Registry for the best unrelated donor match.
Individuals between the ages of 18-35 can join the NMDP Registry by completing a brief health history and providing a swab of cheek cells.
Boozer sat down with several Baptist patients during the visit, including Jim Shoemaker and Antonia McCollins, who said "everything's going smooth" after the stem cell transplant he received to treat his leukemia.
"The fight daily is real," McCollins said. "It'll take a while to be in recovery."
Boozer also visited with 26-year-old NBA fan Jack Freeman, who has Fragile X Syndrome and has undergone two stem cell transplants for leukemia.
His mom, Jennifer Freeman, said when doctors told her the staff would end up feeling like family, she didn't believe them.
"I thought, there's no way I'm ever gonna think of y'all as family. I'm never gonna be comfortable here...I hate it here," she said. "Fast forward to now, they are family. I do feel comfortable here. Jack is like family to them. They look at him like he's one of theirs. And that's what it means to me."
Baptist has the only adult stem cell transplant and cellular therapy center in the Memphis area, according to the hospital.
"This is very near and dear to my heart because being an African American physician, African Americans have the lowest probability of having a matching donor," said Dr. Brion Randolph, a doctor at the Baptist Cancer Center who helped organize Boozer's visit.
According to Randolph, the donor pool for African Americans is small, and the gene pool is very diverse, making it even tougher to find donors.
"I was really excited when the NMDP reached out to us about doing a drive and particularly hearing Cam's story...I see this as another opportunity for us to outreach to our community," Randolph said.
In the past, doctors had to get stem cells from the bone marrow, which required an operation. Now in most cases, doctors give a donor a series of shots to help stimulate the stem cells and collect the cells through an IV.
"It's not as tough as people think," Randolph said. "There's a misconception that we're actually removing bone or something from the body when we do this. It's a lot like donating platelets, for the donor."
Jack Armstrong covers breaking news and the environment for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at jack.armstrong@commercialappeal.com and followed on X @jca2902.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Cam Boozer visits Baptist Memorial Hospital for World Marrow Donor Day
