This High School Principal Donated his Bone Marrow to a Teen He Had Never Met. Now a Community Remembers His Selfless Act.

Meet Derrick Nelson.

Nelson was the principal of Westfield High School in Westfield, New Jersey, and because of his selfless bone marrow donation he helped save the life of a 14-year-old boy in France whom he had never met.

Unfortunately, Nelson suffered from sleep apnea — a disorder where people stop breathing during sleep. This meant that Nelson couldn’t put put under general anesthesia during the procedure to extract his bone marrow. Fortunately, his doctors knew he wanted to help the French teen, so they developed a modified bone marrow retrieval process and used local anesthesia instead.

The good news? The procedure was successful and the bone marrow was extracted.

Then the unthinkable happened. Complications arose due to Nelson’s condition and he slipped into a coma.

A month later, he had died.

Soon after, the Mayor of Westfield, New Jersey remembered the educator.

As did hundreds of commenters who talked about Nelson and his achievements.

Some were understandably shocked…

Others offered their prayers…

And blessings for his family…

Coworkers chimed in too…

They remember a man who was a genuine pleasure to be around…

And they’ll truly miss the conversations they had with him…

One might think that Nelson’s tragic death would scare people away from donating bone marrow. It shouldn’t.

Signing up for the donation process only takes 10 minutes, and you’ll be sent an at-home swab test. It’s as simple as that.

Also, most of the time donations are taken via stem cells, not bone marrow. That process is much more like donating blood than something invasive as getting into the bone marrow.

Consider it. You could save a life.