Danny Cavett
Chaplain, OU Medical Center
Bone Marrow Transplant Recipient
2002 National Employee Frist Humanitarian Award Recipient

My perspective on donation is two-fold. First, I work everyday with patients and their families who hope to have or have had a transplant of an organ or bone marrow. The support we extend and sense of family we provide at OU Medical Center is invaluable and makes people want to have their transplant here.

My second experience is one that is personal. Six years ago, I was told I had to have a Bone Marrow Transplant. My insurance would not allow me to have the transplant here—at the very place I worked and where my close family lived. They wanted me to travel hundreds of miles away from my support. I know both from experience and by my involvement on the Institutional Review Board that OU Medical Center is a superior facility. I was concerned that being away from my friends and family would not afford me the best opportunity to heal. There is that intangible in the healing process: support. That support gives a patient the best chance to heal. I felt so strongly about the decision, I chose to wait until I could change my insurance coverage to allow my transplant to occur at OU Medical Center. The medical expertise, care and overwhelming support I received changed my life. I am now six years post transplant.

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