Continuing the Lifesaving Work of Bone Marrow Transplants

Christopher’s Challenge is a not-for-profit organization established in 1998 to continue the lifesaving work of bone marrow transplants. The purpose of Christopher’s Challenge is to educate, draw awareness and type potential bone marrow donors through DKMS. 

Christopher's Challenge is named in honor of Christopher Costello, a young man from Webster, New York, who was suffering from leukemia and in need of a bone marrow transplant. In order to increase the number of people in the Bone Marrow Registry and find suitable bone marrow donors, Christopher's Challenge was established. Through Christopher's Challenge, the initial blood testing saw over 1000 people from the Rochester community added to Be The Match.

Christopher Costello with his donor Ed Suslovic

Rochester, NY is very fortunate to have a Bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Strong Memorial Hospital. This unit is specially designed to reduce infections, as this is a risk for those patients that receive a marrow transplant. Each patient has a private room equipped with an air flow mechanism to clean the all the air particles in the room. The Bone Marrow Unit is staffed with doctors and nurses who have extensive experience in the sub-specialty of transplantation.