DURHAM, N.C. — The Health Resources and Services Administration reports medical teams around the country perform roughly 9,300 bone marrow and cord blood transplants a year.
Many of those are done in North Carolina. The process of becoming a bone marrow recipient can be a long and winding road, from finding a match to receiving a painful procedure to beat a disease like cancer.
Nobody knows the feeling more than a woman in Wake County, who took a lengthy hospital stay after a transplant more than two years ago and is paying it forward.
“It’s definitely a happy Christmas, happy holiday season this year,” Baltazar said as she wrapped gifts with her mother, Nancy Colasurdo, and her sister, Nicole Colasurdo.
But the holiday cheer isn’t the sole reason they were preparing and boxing goodies.
Baltazar, 30, said she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2021. After many rounds of chemotherapy, medical specialists at the Duke Cancer Institute told her she needed a bone marrow transplant.
“It’s incredibly uncomfortable. It’s definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through and I don’t wish it on my worst enemy,” she said.
But she didn’t have to look farther than her own bloodline for the donor: her sister, Nicole Colasurdo.
“When I needed a bone marrow transplant, there was never a doubt that Nicole would do it for me,” Baltazar said.
Nicole Colasurdo said she traveled back and forth from Michigan for screening requirements on the way to giving bone marrow to her sister.
“I went right away and got tested at the facility. They called me about a week later and said I was a perfect match. Really it just went from there,” Nicole Colasurdo said.
Nicole Colasurdo clings to her older sister Alexa Baltazer’s leg as children. (Courtesy Alexa Baltazar)
After receiving the transplant is when the gift giving really gets good because in 2022, after a month-long stay in the hospital, Baltazar used her experience to create a 501c3 nonprofit called Gifting Joy.
“It’s really fulfilling because not only did my sister give me a second chance at life, but it shows how close our family is that everyone is willing to come together to help,” Baltazar said.
The financial donations received online for Gifting Joy set the charitable endeavor in motion.
She said every cent goes to the purchase of practical items to make a patient’s time in the hospital a little smoother. The North Carolina native, whose work for WP Engine focuses on online marketing and website optimization, converts donations into goodwill. The bags made for bone marrow patients can include sound machines, gift cards, toilet paper, blankets and journals.
It’s an experience Baltazar uses to guide her philanthropy because she remembered people in her life who wanted to help but didn’t know how.
“I wouldn’t have (known what to get for these patients). I think there are so many friends and family that we have that didn’t know how to support people going through a bone marrow transplant, and they wanted to help,” she said. “Since we have this lived experience, we can share with them what people need and they donate all the money to give all these gifts. It’s able to help the community help others.”
Alexa Baltazar, seen in these photos taken over three years apart, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 28. (Courtesy Alexa Baltazar)
Little things like bed pillows are part of the care packages.
“That way it is just one more thing for comfort because the hospital pillows are so thin. They’re not comfortable. We spoil them with these,” Baltazar said. “To be able to do something where we are giving back to people who are in that spot and we are giving them things that we can actually help them with, it’s a no-brainer. It’s easy.”
Giving back has become a family affair.
The cancer survivor’s family embraces turning her second chance at life to helping move her mission forward.
“I think it’s just a given. I mean, that’s part of being family, right? You are always there for family. There’s no question about it,” Dave Colasurdo said.
Dave Colasurdo is Baltazar’s dad. The day before the care packages were to be dropped off at Duke hospital, he loaded boxes into two cars with the help of his nephew, Bunky Dunn. Dave Colasurdo couldn’t hide his pride for what his daughter has done since Baltazar developed the concept for the nonprofit before she left the hospital.
“She was thinking about how to help other people, how to proactively make something out of it, which is fantastic,” he said.
Baltazar said money raised through Gifting Joy was used for 17 hospital care packages last year.
Just like last year, she relied on the help of relatives. Dave Colasurdo drove a carload of care packages to the cancer center this month. On the way, he reflected on how misfortune has been transformed into a positive for so many.
“Considering where we were at one point… it’s amazing that we’re in this spot,” he said.
As he popped the trunk to the car at the Duke Medical Plaza on Tuesday, swarms of nurses and hospital workers circled around the family.
It was a surreal moment for Baltazar, who reunited with some familiar faces.
“Oh my gosh, this is so cool. A lot of these people were actually my nurses when I was in treatment,” she said.
Members of her former care team placed dozens of the boxes onto carts to roll into the hospital. On this day, Baltazar would have a chance to hand-deliver a bag to a patient just like her.
A tinge of nervous excitement unfolded as the door opened to Ron Magnuson’s room, who’d been in the hospital for less than a week when they met.
“Mr. Magnuson? Hi, I’m Alexa Baltazar,” she said as she handed him a bag full of practical items.
The stunned look of appreciation fell over Magnuson, 66, as he looked at the care package.
It was a full circle moment shared between a current and future bone marrow recipient.
“By doing something like this, we can put a little joy… we can gift joy to the folks in the hospital and that’s why we are called Gifting Joy,” Baltazar said.
Baltazar said they’re on track to make and deliver 40 care packages this year.
The goal is to deliver 200-300 care packages a year for families and patients experiencing a bone marrow transplant.