Beyond the Donor Chair: Eric Steger’s Extraordinary Donation Story
Some people donate blood once or twice in their lives. Others make it a regular habit. And then there’s Eric Steger. His passion for giving has led him to explore a variety of opportunities to help patients in need. From stem cells to solid organ donations, plus an incredible 200 blood donations (and counting), Eric’s story exemplifies compassion and a relentless drive to support others.
Eric’s donation journey started back in high school. He signed up to give blood at a drive on campus, motivated, he admits, by extra credit for a physiology class. Unfortunately, they couldn’t draw enough from his veins to make it a successful donation, and the experience put him off donating for years. But in 2005, that all changed when he signed up for the bone marrow registry. He knew the odds of ever being called were slim, but he says, “You just do it anyway.” A year and a half later, he got an email asking if he’d like to save a life. Without hesitation, he said yes.
After a series of tests, Eric was matched with a patient needing a transplant. The morning of the collection, the Gift of Life organization arranged to pick him up in a limousine, and off they went to the transplant center. It was a five-and-a-half-hour process with needles in both arms, but he wouldn’t think twice about doing it again.
Afterward, he didn’t begin actively looking for another donation experience until browsing the Gift of Life website one day. He came across a list of different types of donations and wondered, “What else can I give?” In looking at the list of organs, he wasn’t sure this was really for him, but thought it over for a while.
Deciding to take the next step, Eric was put in touch with Chaya Lipschutz, a kidney donor who went on to facilitate organ donation matching. She asked if he’d be willing to travel to Israel to donate a kidney, and he jumped at the chance. But after a long journey and extensive testing, he was ultimately disqualified due to hypertension—a devastating blow. After returning home, he found comfort in something he could do: donate blood. He thought, “This is what I can do. I’m going to be the best blood donor there ever was.”
He found a blood drive at his local synagogue where he made his first donation with Stanford Blood Center (SBC). He was soon recruited to become a platelet donor, beginning a lifelong practice of donating as frequently as possible.
Then, in 2018, Eric saw a commercial about altruistic liver donation, a process in which a living donor gives part of their liver to someone in need. Despite his past disappointment with the kidney donation, the idea stuck with him. He reconnected with Chaya, who arranged the kidney transplant, to see if she had anyone in her files he might be able to help. After several potential matches fell through, Chaya expanded her search nationwide. Eventually, a match was found, and in January 2020, Eric successfully donated the large lobe of his liver to a patient at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. This made him a rare “serial donor”, having now donated stem cells, a solid organ, red blood cells, and platelets.
But he wasn’t done! Six months to the day after his liver donation, when he became eligible to give blood again, he returned to SBC to resume donating platelets and plasma, eager to make up for lost time. Eric completed his 200th blood donation in January and says he’s not stopping anytime soon. “Now I’m donating platelets and plasma with another goal in mind—several years from now, I’ll earn the next T-shirt, license plate frame, and pin for my hat!” His hat, seen here, is adorned with pins representing his many lifesaving donations.
Blood donation is a way of life for Eric. Though it’s not always easy—sometimes his veins don’t cooperate or his hemoglobin levels are too low—he keeps coming back, determined to give as often as he can. SBC is beyond grateful for Eric’s unwavering support, and we celebrate the impact his generosity has had on others.