Jake Kinsley will miss part of his senior baseball season to donate life to a complete stranger.
The Furman catcher underwent a lengthy procedure Monday to donate bone marrow Monday to a 55-year-old woman in need, FOX Carolina reported.
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"I didn't think twice about it when given the offer," Kinsley said, via GreenvilleOnline. "Just knowing that it's that important to that person and you're able to help them even if you don't know them."
Kinsley initially participated in a bone marrow donor drive on Furman's campus as a freshman but wasn't a match. His testing was then put into the international Bone Marrow Transplant registry on BeTheMatch.org until this past winter when he was finally matched. Kinsley received a call during the middle of winter workouts about the potential match and underwent preliminary tests and screenings. The results showed he was a perfect match.
"It is very rare to even be called as a potential match. That's like only one in 70,000," Be The Match South Carolina community engagement representative Ashley Collier said. "For someone to be a perfect match, you're looking for that needle in a haystack."
Collier disclosed that a bone marrow transplant is often the last chance for many patients to beat cancer.
"The chemotherapy is not going to work anymore. There's no more going into remission. This is it," Collier said. "For a patient, that may be their only match. There may not be other options, and that could mean their life."
During his tenure at Furman, Kinsley has started three games. He has recorded four hits over the last three seasons.
"He's going to miss probably close to a week of his senior year, the last year that he's going to play baseball, and he loves baseball," Furman coach Ron Smith said. "That's an extraordinary sacrifice. In his eyes and our eyes, it's well worth it, that one week compared to a lifetime for another person."
Kinsley cannot contact the woman until a year after the transplant but is hopeful that it will allow her to live to see that day.
"I'm going to have to give up a little bit of what I love in baseball, but it's all worth it, to help someone else out and give them another chance at life," Kinsley said. "My mom and dad always say I'm not just playing sports to play sports. There is a greater purpose out there, and I'm starting to see that now."