Overview

• Philipp Türmer’s donation in late June has likely saved a 64-year-old Texas blood cancer patient after he was identified as a match in April.
• He prepared with five days of self-administered hormone injections that caused severe headaches before undergoing a five-hour extraction at Berlin’s Charité.
• Türmer first registered as a potential donor at age 17 and accepted the call to donate immediately when matched.
• Drawing on his personal experience, he proposes automatic donor registration for all eligible citizens unless they formally object to address chronic shortages.
• He remains open to meeting the recipient and hopes that sharing his story will motivate more people to sign up as stem cell donors.