When the call went out over social media that Army Sgt. Derrick Bishop, of the 82nd Airborne Division, needed a bone marrow transplant, thousands responded in person and online.
On Monday, more than 1,000 soldiers and veterans showed up at Fort Bragg, North Carolina for a bone marrow donor screening, and more than 1,000 others submitted requests online for test kits, said Chad Ballance, the senior recruiter for the Defense Department’s marrow donor program, Salute to Life.
Pictures shared on social media on Monday showed the outpouring of support from soldiers at Fort Bragg.
“The strength of America’s Army rests on its soldiers and our shared values,” Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll said in a statement to Task & Purpose on Tuesday. “It’s heartening to see the Fort Bragg community rallying behind Sgt. Bishop in his time of need and I encourage our soldiers and leaders to continue drawing strength from one another, regardless of the circumstance.”
Bishop, 23, has been diagnosed with aplastic anemia, a serious disease in which bone marrow cannot produce enough blood cells, said Chelsey Simoni of the HunterSeven Foundation, a non-profit group founded by veterans that specializes in cancer care and medical research.
The five-year survival rate for people diagnosed with the disease and undergo a bone marrow transplant is higher than 75%, while most patients who go untreated die within a year from complications related to the disease, according to a 2023 scholarly article.
Simoni credits influencers, including Platoon Daddy, WETSU, Amanda Sullivan, Kagan Dunlap, Erik Bartell, and others, for spreading the word about the bone marrow drive.
While the response was overwhelming, Simoni said she was not surprised by the large turnout.
“These soldiers, their whole thing is selfless service and service to others and their brotherhood,” Simoni said. “So, to see it — it was expected. I saw a few full-bird colonels there. I saw some senior warrant officers, senior enlisted, all the way down to privates. They came out in force for their team.”
Monday’s bone marrow drive at Fort Bragg was primarily organized by Staff Sgt. Brayden Bex, a lab technician noncommissioned officer with the Joint Special Operations Medical Training Center, U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.
“I have done other events, but none that have garnered this much traction and attention, with the help of social media,” Bex said in a statement to Task & Purpose.
Bex also stressed that people don’t need to have a background in medicine to put on events like the bone marrow donor screening for Bishop.
“Having the knowledge and understanding that Army medicine training has provided can allow me to teach the general population and bring a higher level of awareness,” Bex said, “Thus, having a bigger impact on those who are affected.”
Bex is part of the “Operation Ring the Bell” campaign to make bone marrow drives a routine part of Army service that is led by Sgt. Christian Sutton, also known as “The Bone Marrow Guy.”
Sutton told Task & Purpose on Tuesday that Fort Bragg was unlike anything he has seen before.
“We’ve done a drive for Fort Bliss that was around two weeks, Sutton said. “We were able to register 4,000 soldiers in eight days. And that’s still pennies compared to what Fort Bragg was able to get in that drive in one morning.”
In addition to Monday’s event at Fort Bragg, similar events are taking place at other bases including Fort Campbell, Kentucky; Fort Jackson, South Carolina; and Fort Bliss, Texas, Sutton said.
“We hope to see the Army take on this fight, and make searches by patients for donors much shorter and much more infrequent,” Sutton said. “We are honored by the support we have seen this cause get from Army leadership.”
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