NMDP℠ Partners with Lil Miquela to Encourage Young People to Join the Blood Stem Cell Donor Registry and Help Save Patient Lives

A new campaign will portray the patient journey through the eyes of the virtual influencer, helping to educate and inspire her young fans to save a life through blood stem cell donation

MINNEAPOLIS, May 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NMDP℠ (formerly Be The Match^®/National Marrow Donor Program), which operates the world’s most diverse registry of blood stem cell and marrow donors, has launched its first virtual influencer campaign to engage 18-30-year-olds on the selfless and life-changing choice to join the NMDP Registry and donate blood stem cells if matched. In partnership with Lil Miquela, a 22-year-old virtual influencer, musician and digital activist with millions of fans, NMDP is working to connect with and mobilize young people to join the NMDP Registry, helping more patients find their life-saving donor.

Over the course of the campaign, Miquela will show her fans a first-person point of view from a leukemia diagnosis through treatment and searching for a donor. The storyline, inspired by real patients’ experiences and emotional reflections, is meant to resonate with young potential donors and leverage the deep online relationships many have with virtual influencers, like Miquela. A council of NMDP ambassadors comprising of patients, caregivers, transplant recipients, blood stem cell donors, patient services coordinators and other medical professionals have informed Miquela’s content and joined NMDP in this important call to action.

Patient voices are incredibly powerful, yet many patients are too sick to share their own stories in real time. Erica Jensen, Senior Vice President, Innovation, Strategy & Marketing, NMDP, said that the Miquela partnership will help elevate the very real dilemma that so many patients and their caretakers face when waiting to find a willing blood stem cell donor.

“We’re using Miquela’s journey to be a voice for those who can’t share, or don’t feel comfortable sharing, their story. By helping Miquela’s devoted fans better understand blood cancer and blood stem cell donation, we hope they’ll feel inspired to join the NMDP Registry and stay committed to donating if they match with a real patient,” Jensen said.

Creative Council Informing Campaign

When Cayden Addison was three years old in 2020, he was diagnosed with leukemia. After chemotherapy treatment, he was in remission for a year before relapsing. Doctors recommended a blood stem cell transplant from a fully matched donor to give Cayden the best chance at long-term remission or a cure. Cayden doesn’t have any suitable donors in his family, and when doctors found a single match on the NMDP Registry, Cayden’s mom Courtney was elated – but she was met again with heartbreak when her son’s one potential donor was no longer available to donate. Courtney has taken her son’s search to media, held donor drives to help grow the NMDP Registry and now is part of the creative council informing NMDP’s Miquela campaign.

“Cayden has been fighting leukemia for five years, but through hope and heartbreak he has remained such a positive, sweet kid. He deserves to live a happy, healthy life, and his best chance is to receive a bone marrow transplant,” Courtney said. “When Cayden is hospitalized or going through active treatment, all of my attention and focus is making sure his needs are being met and he’s not in pain. This leaves little to no time to share the day-to-day struggles he’s experiencing on social media. So I love this creative approach to share his story in a way he cannot. I’m hopeful this finds new heroes for my son and for the thousands of others like him who are anxiously waiting for a donor.”

A council of 12 individuals including NMDP patient-facing professionals, alongside six NMDP ambassadors, have worked with the organization to share insight into lived experiences and personal testimonials to inspire Miquela’s content. Cayden’s mom Courtney has been joined by transplant recipients like Emilee Mort, who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 19, and blood stem cell donors like Noah Krause.

“Within the first few weeks after diagnosis, my oncology team explained that chemotherapy was the first option, but transplant was highly recommended to prevent relapse,” said Emilee Mort. “I was scared for my future and what my prognosis would be. My siblings were all 50 percent matches – but luckily, I found a match on the NMDP Registry a few weeks after I completed chemotherapy. I am grateful to be in remission because of modern medicine and the ability to have a transplant because of a generous donor.” Emilee received a blood stem cell transplant from a donor on the NMDP Registry and has been in remission for three years.

Noah Krause, 25, has been called to donate – not once, but twice. He has donated two different ways – once via peripheral blood stem cells which is a process used 90 percent of the time, in a non-surgical process resembling plasma donation. The second donation was bone marrow donation performed in an outpatient surgical procedure.

“It’s a privilege to help save someone’s life,” Noah said. “Those patients needed my blood stem cells to live, so how could I say no to that? Joining the NMDP Registry and going through the donation process is so easy compared to what patients have to go through. The reality is, there are still so many more patients looking for a donor. I would do it again, and I hope someone would do the same for me, if the roles were reversed.”

The council of ambassadors helps illustrate the ongoing, urgent need for donors so more patients can receive their life-saving cell therapy.

Miquela’s diagnosis is scripted, but the crisis is real.

About 75 percent of patients with blood cancers and diseases who need life-saving stem cell donations do not have a fully matched donor in their family. Young, healthy, willing and committed people of all backgrounds are essential to continuing to grow the NMDP Registry and provide more potential matches for patients. Unfortunately, when called to donate, about half of registry members are unwilling or unable to donate.

At U.S. transplant centers, physicians request donors in the 18-30 age group 66 percent of the time, research shows cells from younger, healthy donors lead to more successful blood stem cell transplants for patients. For years, NMDP has been connecting with this age group where they are, from college campuses to social media. NMDP’s partnership with Miquela is a new chapter in their efforts to inspire committed registry members to join and honor significant challenges patients often face.

“We need to do everything in our power to educate potential donors that their cheek swab is the start to a journey that needs to end with a “yes” when called to help save a patient’s life,” said Jensen. “We know that people want to help, but they do not realize how critically important their stem cells are – they could be the best match to give a patient like Cayden a second chance at life.”

Every year, 12,000 patients are diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers or other diseases for which a blood stem cell transplant from an unrelated donor may be their best or only hope of a cure. NMDP has helped more than 135,000 patients get a second chance at life through blood stem cell donation. Growing the registry and adding new potential donors – especially in the 18-30 age range – will benefit both current and future searching patients.

To learn more about Miquela and her call to join the registry, visit https://go.nmdp.org/lilmiquela, and to learn more about NMDP, visit nmdp.org.

About NMDP℠

At NMDP℠, we believe each of us holds the key to curing blood cancers and disorders. As a global nonprofit leader in cell therapy, NMDP creates essential connections between researchers and supporters to inspire action and accelerate innovation to find life-saving cures. With the help of blood stem cell donors from the world’s most diverse registry and our extensive network of transplant partners, physicians and caregivers, we’re expanding access to treatment so that every patient can receive their life-saving cell therapy. NMDP. Find cures. Save lives.

A video accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2ab2addd-8237-44a8-bdfb-8b94b5fe8f0d

CONTACT: Contact:
Erica Sevilla, NMDP
esevilla@nmdp.org