Chris Rigsby donates bone marrow.
Chris Rigsby ’13, ’16, was an undergraduate student at the University of Central Arkansas attending a Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament when he was asked to swab his cheek and be added to a registry for potential bone marrow donors.
“And I was like, ‘Yeah, and I’m sure nothing will ever happen,’” he said.
Fast-forward to now, Rigsby is married. He has earned a bachelor’s, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and started the Doctor of Philosophy in physical therapy at UCA. He works as a physical therapist at UCA’s Community Care Clinic where he treats patients and also teaches physical therapy students.
That quick cheek swab approximately 14 years ago turned out to be something.
In October 2024, he was contacted by DKMS, a registry for potential bone marrow donors. At the time Rigsby registered with the nonprofit organization, he might have done so with the organization Delete Blood Cancer. After 2016, everyone who registered with Delete Blood Cancer remains on file with DKMS and on the national registry.
Chris Rigsby
Chris Rigsby with his wife, Kaitlin
“So I got a call from DKMS and spoke with the rep, and they said, ‘Hey, we’re not sure, but preemptively, it looks like you’re a match. Can we do some blood work?’ So we scheduled some blood work. I went to Little Rock, sent some blood off, and a couple of weeks later, they were like, ‘Wow, you are a match,’” Rigsby said.
In early 2025, Rigsby visited Ohio for a physical to make sure he would be able to make the donation. Once he was cleared, he and his wife flew to Cincinnati, Ohio, to donate.
“It was early Monday, I got there, they pulled me back. It was an hour, maybe two hours later, I was awake and talking,” Rigsby said adding that he and his wife went out to lunch and explored the city after the procedure.
Before leaving Ohio to return to Arkansas, he revisited the clinic for a quick checkup and to change his bandages. “I was sore, and it was tough getting through the airports and everything the next day, but I still was able to kind of go around, enjoy the city, eat some food and visit some places that we hadn’t been to.”
Since the donation, Rigsby said he slept a little more than usual the first week. He also slowed down on his jiu-jitsu and other workouts but has since ramped them back up to the normal routines.
As he has migrated back to normal activities, he began to share his story with friends and family, colleagues at the Community Care Clinic and even social media. He said the normal reaction is excitement, surprise and appreciation.
“My wife is number one, and she was so excited. She works in hematology and oncology, so blood and cancer, and so she was ecstatic. All of her co-workers are so excited because they work with the patients on the other side. She’s just been super happy and supportive through this whole process,” Rigsby said. “Family and co-workers, patients and my students at the gym, they’re all kind of the same.”
With the excitement, Rigsby said he also gets the same question from almost everyone who hears the story: Did he know the person to whom he donated? The answer is no.
“I’m like, ‘No, it’s somebody across the world, I have no idea,’ but that’s the biggest question, and then past that it’s just, ‘How have you felt? How’s your back? How you doing?’ that kind of thing,” he said.
“I think it’s a good thing that I’ve done, but it also seems to me, like, this is what I’m supposed to do,” Rigsby continued. “It feels like a good thing to do, but it also feels like, ‘Well, why wouldn’t I,’ kind of thing. I’m gonna have a little bit of back pain, and it’s gonna not be fun for a little while, but I get to hopefully save somebody’s life, so, it feels neat, but why wouldn’t I do this?”
By: Fredricka Sharkey
