09/19/2025
When Basil Keepp joined MSK in July 2024 as a Clinical Nurse Coordinator in the adult bone marrow transplant service, he never expected to one day donate bone marrow himself.
In 2019, Basil signed up to be a donor for NMDP. "I learned that my ethnic origin (Indian) was one of the least represented on the bone marrow registry, so I reached out to NMDP on their website to request a swab kit,” remembers Basil.
In early 2025, Basil received an email from NMDP letting him know he could be a match for a one-year-old girl with Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID). Months later, he got the call: he was a match.
Before he knew it, Basil was on his way to Washington, D.C. for the donation. "I was out of the hospital that same day and back to work at MSK two days later. I would do it again in a heartbeat," he shares.
In his role, Basil coordinates bone marrow transplant care for adult patients at MSK. He arranges diagnostic testing and appointments prior to a transplant, educates patients about what each day looks like post-transplant, and instructs patients about their post-transplant stay in the hospital.
For Basil, donating bone marrow felt like a calling, something that he knew he had to do, especially given his line of work: “When I got the call, it felt so serendipitous, like I was completing the circle."
Leave a 💙 in the comments for Basil!
