FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz has made 102 saves during a six-year career that has seen him play for three different teams, mostly as a back-up after entering Major League Soccer as one of the best young American goalkeeping prospects in college history. Some of those 102 saves have been astounding, such as the handful of jaw-dropping stops he made at the end of the 2011 season to deny Chris Wondolowski the Golden Boot.
For all of Seitz’s memorable saves, none can measure up to the biggest save of his young life. His decision to be a bone marrow donor.
Seitz, 25, recently became the first pro athlete to donate bone marrow during a season, after discovering he was a match for a sick patient in need. Rather than pass on the opportunity to donate, and risk his season and potentially his playing career, Seitz stepped up and made a heroic sacrifice.
ESPN chronicled Seitz’s journey, the decision to be come a donor and the process that led him to go from one of a host of people to be sampled for potential bone marrow donation, to one of the few to accept the request to become a donor.
Give the story a read. It is an impressive tale of sacrifice and selflessness, and a decision that has helped bring attention to a worthy cause.
What do you think of Seitz’s story? Surprised to see an athlete make that sort of sacrifice? Could you have done the same? Are you planning on getting swabbed in the future?
Share your thoughts below.