Shown left to right (front) Jared Jones, Kelsey Alexander, Brionna Smith, Ryan Jones. Back row is Chris Jones (left) and Cindy’s brother, Gary Alphin. Photo submitted by the Lenoir Hospital Foundation.

A nurse’s death in 2004 led first to the creation of a nursing scholarship in her name.

Fifteen years later it inspired one of her sons, Jared, to become a bone-marrow donor to help a stranger combat a type of blood cancer, the disease that took his mother’s life. Cindy Alphin Jones was a respected and beloved nurse at what was then known as Lenoir Memorial Hospital. When she died she left behind her nine-year old twin sons and husband.

Today, her grown sons, husband and brother still meet each year at the hospital where Cindy worked, now UNC Lenoir Health Care, to present the Cindy Alphin Jones Memorial Scholarship administered by the Lenoir Hospital Foundation.  This year the scholarship committee decided to split the award between two recipients because they were so equally qualified. Both are nursing students at Pitt Community College. 

In 2015, one of Jared’s friends hosted a blood marrow registry drive searching for a match for her cousin with blood cancer. Jared says that “remembering that my mother needed a bone marrow transplant during her battle with leukemia, it was a cause that was close to my heart.” Jared turned out not to be a match then, but he was now in the registry.

“When I got a call this July saying I was a potential match for someone with leukemia,” Jared said, “I immediately agreed to go through more tests to see if I was the perfect match. When I heard that I was, my heart filled with joy.” 

In September, he went to the closest National Marrow Donor transplant center and donated his blood stem cells through a process called apheresis.

“During the donation, I couldn't help but think of my mother, the recipient, and the thousands of people who are diagnosed with blood cancer every year,” Jared said.

Jared encourages others to visit bethematch.org or dkms.org to find out how a simple cheek swab kit can help you save a life.