ROLLA, Mo.  –  When Cody Fulkerson, a longtime volunteer assistant football coach at Missouri S&T, was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in December 2022, the only play his doctors had to call was a long shot — what’s known on the gridiron as a Hail Mary. 

The coach needed someone with matching genetic markers to donate blood stem cells, and he needed it with the kind of speed you’d expect from a running back breaking into the open field. Otherwise, doctors expected Fulkerson would die in about 18 months.  

After Fulkerson shared the news, the Missouri S&T football team rallied around him. Led by then-team captain and quarterback Max Conard, players partnered the following spring with NMDP to host a Get in the Game donor registry drive. NMDP matches patients in need of a blood stem cell transplant with compatible donors on its national registry.

Fulkerson didn’t find a donor through that event, but an S&T student did eventually match with someone and provided a lifesaving donation. Another event hosted a few months later by community members rallying around Fulkerson in his hometown of Linn, Missouri, led to another match and another life saved. 

Not long after these events, Fulkerson scored a touchdown of his own when he was matched with John Paul Vitucci, a donor from Florida in his 20s.

“There’s no way I could ever repay John Paul for what he did for me,” Fulkerson says. “All I can do is live my life in a way that makes him proud. My faith, my family, my employer and an incredible support network carried me through everything.” 

A retired state trooper and U.S. Air Force veteran, Fulkerson has most recently continued his lifetime of service in advancement roles with the Phelps Health Foundation, helping meet the hospital’s special needs and supporting patients across its six-county region. He says he is even more driven to do this work and help others in more ways. 

“I’ve been given a second chance,” he says. “The best way I know how to honor that is to keep doing good and help as many people as I can.” 

Another chance to save a life

It has now been about three years since the registry drive at S&T. Fulkerson says his doctors tell him he is in remission, but he needs to reach the five-year mark before they can officially deem him cancer-free

Building on the success of the previous drive at S&T, Andy Ball, head coach of the Missouri S&T football team, says the team will host another Get in the Game donor registry event from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, April 22, in S&T’s Havener Center.

The NMDP Get in the Game program is designed for college coaches and athletes to help encourage teammates and classmates to join the blood stem cell donor registry.

The event is open to students and community members ages 18 to 35 who are residents of the United States or its territories and meet NMDP’s health guidelines.

“You never know when something as simple as joining the registry could be the opportunity to save someone’s life,” Ball says. “We hope people will come out and be part of something bigger than themselves. All it takes is a simple cheek swab to join the registry and potentially save a life.” 

To learn more about the S&T drive, contact Ethan Hudson, an S&T assistant coach, at ejhd5f@mst.edu.

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