West Valley marrow recipient to meet donor at fundraiser

SALT LAKE CITY — Though he's scheduled to be the closing act behind Bon Jovi at a celebrity gala in New York later this week, David Jolley's biggest thrill in the Big Apple will be meeting the woman whose bone marrow donation has kept him alive.

"I have a gift for her and I'm looking forward to it, but I'm a little anxious about it," he said Tuesday. "It's the person that saved my life. How do you even thank someone for doing something like that?"

Jolley is scheduled to meet his donor, Stefanie Kienstra, on Thursday as both prepare to participate in a major fundraising event that evening. After a performance by Jon Bon Jovi, they'll briefly share their story as advocates for donation through DKMS, the world's largest bone marrow donation center.

The organization, which has more than 2 million registered donors, facilitated Jolley's transplant in conjunction with the National Donor Program and LDS Hospital, and is the impetus behind his New York trip. He celebrated his two-year anniversary as a bone marrow recipient last month and will be preparing for the bar exam in June once he returns home.

A native of West Valley City, Jolley graduated from Skyline High School, then went on to the University of Utah, where he received an undergraduate degree in sociology and political science, and a master's in public administration.

Though he had planned on a career in federal law enforcement, he switched plans after interviewing with police agencies that didn't like his reticence to use deadly force, he said.

Law school seemed more appealing at that point, so he enrolled at Gonzaga University and was working on his second year of study when he and his wife came home to Utah for Thanksgiving in 2007.

As the couple prepared to return to school, family members finally talked him into a visit to the emergency room at St. Mark's Hospital because he had a lingering illness that wasn't responding to treatment. A doctor told him he had acute myelocytic leukemia. "He said it was very critical and I needed to be rushed to LDS Hospital right away."

Jolley was hospitalized until the day before Christmas, receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Doctors told him the disease is so aggressive, he would likely die without a bone marrow transplant, so a nationwide search was initiated.