Robert May is working to become a firefighter and paramedic through Del Mar, but its what he’s done outside the classroom is how he currently save lives.
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A story about the selfless act of a local teen.
The 19-year-old is currently working to become a firefighter and paramedic through Del Mar College’s firefighting academy. But it’s what he’s done outside the classroom that has him being called a hero.
When Robert May heard a presentation about how he could help someone simply by joining the national bone marrow or stem cell registry, he didn’t hesitate. It wasn’t long before he got the call that he was a match for someone in need.
3NEWS caught up with the young hero at the Carroll High School Gym where students from across the region packed in for the annual HOSA Future Health Professionals Conference. He was the key note speaker for the event.
May is currently pursuing his paramedic license.
“I think I’ve always had a need to help others or those in need and I think this was just another opportunity in which I was given to help those in need,” said May.
He’s talking about his decision to join the NMDP Registry formally known as the National Marrow Donor Program and Be the Match.
“When I decided to put my name in, it was real easy I just got a swab on my mouth and they sent it off to a lab where they tested my DNA and within 3 months I got my first match,” he said.
It wouldn’t be his last.
May matched with three people in need which is super rare in most cases.
It was that third match that took him to Houston where he donated his stem cells for a 35-year-old man with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
May keeping his contagious smile as he sat in the chair to donate.
He said it was a relatively easy process.
“I got sat in a real comfy chair, they put a couple of needles in me and had a machine going for about 6 and a half hours and it was very much worth it for the chance of someone to be able to live,” he said.
The special day, Oct. 27, was also his birthday.
“Whenever the patient gets their stem cells they call it kind of like a rebirth or a new birthday,” he said. “It just so happened we had the same new birthday. I’m really happy it worked out that way and I hope that person is doing really well right now.”
During the conference May was joined by his parents who are no doubt proud of his actions.
Sitting on the other side of him was Leticia Mondragon who gives presentations across the state in hopes of getting more people to join the registry.
She called May’s journey a full-circle moment for her too because May signed up following one of her talks.
“He goes, ‘I want to help,’ that’s why he wants to be a firefighter, he want’s to give back,” Mondragon said. “[He said] ‘I hope I can match three more people and I would donate again,’ and that just says a lot about this gentleman and this local hero.”
At the conference, he took the stage to share his impactful story.
“My whole life I’ve been wanting to help those in need and part of the reason I wanted to become a firefighter,” he told the crowd.
Donating his stem cells to give someone else a fighting chance.
“It’s a horrible illness and to help those who have it, is an opportunity all of us can benefit from,” he said.
His words are now inspiring other students like Janae Montalvo.
“Such an amazing thing to do, for him to be in a firefighter program, to save a life, someone absolutely we want in the firefighter industry,” said Montalvo.
Robert hopes to graduate from the firefighter and paramedic academy next December.
He said it just took him about five minutes to sign up for the registry.
Meantime, Mondragon said the nonprofit aims to diversify the registry because it does not match by blood type, but through the same ethnic backgrounds.
For more information, check out their website.
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