He Was Diagnosed With Leukemia at 29. Then He Got 8,000 People to Join the Stem Cell Registry

When Warren Shen was diagnosed with leukemia at 29, he could have kept it private. Instead, he picked up his phone.

The software engineer started posting on TikTok about his diagnosis and about something a lot of people don’t know: how difficult it is for patients to find matching stem cell donors, especially in communities that are underrepresented in donor registries.

The response was hard to believe. More than 8,000 people joined the stem cell donor registry after watching his videos. More than 5,000 of those new registrants are from Asian American communities, where the shortage of matching donors is a serious problem for patients who need a close genetic match to have a real shot at treatment.

One person’s diagnosis. One TikTok account. Eight thousand people who decided to do something about it.

If you want to join the registry yourself, you can sign up at bethematch.org.