Olympian's Stem Cell Donation Honors Former Student

Two-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Brad Schumacher signed up to be a blood stem cell donor four years ago following the death of his 9-year-old swim student Evan Cousineau.

And when the call came to make good on that promise, Schumacher went to Scripps Green Hospital.

Fox 5 was there this week when the Orange County resident went through the five-hour process of having life-saving stem cells extracted from his blood for transplant into an adult leukemia patient.

Before Evan died, he underwent a stem cell transplant of his own to treat a rare genetic disorder — adrenoleukodystrophy. After his passing, Evan’s mother, Gina Cousineau, created the nonprofit organization Be A Hero, Be A Donor to promote stem cell donor registration. Schumacher became one of her early recruits.

Watch the Fox 5 report: Olympian Keeps Promise By Donating Bone Marrow