Jeanet Mokoena gave a US leukaemia patient a fighting chance at life by donating her stem cells. Image: Supplied

When 23-year-old University of the Western Cape (UWC) student Jeanet Mokoena signed up as a stem cell donor during a campus health awareness campaign early in 2025, she had no idea that a simple DNA swab would, someday, give a stranger in the United States a fighting chance at life.

It was early in 2026 when the Linguistics Honours student received an unexpected call from DKMS, an international organisation dedicated to fighting blood cancer and other blood disorders by helping patients find matching stem cell donors. The person on the other end of the line told Mokoena that she was a match for a leukaemia patient in his 50s in the United States.

“She asked whether I would be willing to donate to a patient that urgently needed stem cell transplantation, and my immediate answer was ‘yes’ without any hesitation,” said Mokoena.

Her desire to help another person outweighed her fear of undergoing an unfamiliar procedure – stem cell collection, a non-surgical process in which blood-forming stem cells are collected from a donor’s bloodstream.

“What came to mind when I received the call was how I would want others to respond if I were the one in need. What if I were in his situation? That made the decision to donate easy,” she said, adding that knowing her body would regenerate stem cells again gave her further reassurance.

Palesa Mokomele, the Head of Corporate Affairs and Communication at DKMS Africa, said one of the biggest misconceptions about stem cell donation is that it could negatively affect a donor's long-term health.

“This is not true. The body naturally produces and replenishes blood stem cells. The replenishment process begins shortly after donation, with stem cell levels generally returning towards normal over the following days to weeks,” she said.

Raised by a single mother in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng, Mokoena, the eldest of two siblings, knows what it means to depend on the kindness of others. This experience shaped her belief that helping others shouldn’t depend on whether you know them.

“I was raised by strangers because my mother worked far from home as a domestic worker in Limpopo, and it was not always possible for her to come home regularly. Neighbours, community members and sometimes teachers stepped in to help us when my mother was away,” she said, recalling how her teachers rallied together to buy her a bus ticket and other necessities when she received an offer to study at UWC.

Jeanet Mokoena says the experience of receiving kindness from others inspired her to help others. Image: Supplied

Mokomele said DKMS has partnered with several educational institutions, including UWC, to encourage young people to register as stem cell donors, as they are often preferred for donations.

“For patients who need a stem cell transplant, treating doctors often prefer younger donors as this age is generally associated with better transplant outcomes. This is one of the reasons why reaching young people through our university partnerships is so important.”

South Africa continues to face a significant shortage of registered stem cell donors from historically disadvantaged communities, particularly Black, Coloured and Indians, making it difficult for patients from these communities to find suitable matches. Patients are more likely to find a compatible donor among people who share a similar genetic ancestry.

“While progress has been made in diversifying the South African donor registry to reflect the demographics of our country, much more still needs to be done. The number of registered donors remains low compared to the number of patients who need stem cell transplants, making it difficult for many to find a suitable match,” said Mokomele, adding that university recruitment campaigns have played a crucial role in raising awareness about stem cell donation.

DKMS's 2025 Business Review shows that 94% of donors from ethnically diverse backgrounds, including Black, Coloured, Indian and Asian communities, had registered through face-to-face recruitment campaigns rather than online, highlighting the importance of awareness campaigns at universities and communities.

According to Mokoena, who dreams of pursuing her studies to PhD level, the discomfort of undergoing medical tests, injections, and a six-hour stem cell collection procedure was a small sacrifice compared to what her donation could mean for someone fighting for his life.

“That could be someone’s father, uncle or partner. I’m just happy that I was able to make a difference in his life and hopefully give him more time with his family,” she said.