Penn's Philippi hoping to finally meet his bone-marrow recipient

Penn's Sam Philippi has an anniversary coming up. The most important one of his young life. He doesn't know what's going to happen. He just knows he's thought about it a bunch.

On Dec. 6, the junior defensive back donated his bone marrow, through the "Be The Match" program, to try and save someone else's life. Someone he didn't know. Just a person who needed his help.

When he registered as a freshman through the program's sign-up initiative, he never thought he would become a viable donor. No one ever does. You get your cheek swabbed and your name go onto the list. And sometimes you're the one who gets called. Which means you go through the harvesting procedure. And your mind wanders.

"All I know is that it was a 30-year-old man who's probably 31 now that lives in the U.S.," Philippi said. "That's the only info I was given. I did get updates after three months and six months. But that's really about it."

[Archives: Andy Talley continues to score with bone-marrow donor program]

Not every story has a happy ending. The rules stipulate that there can be no contact between the donor and the recipient for one year. Then it's up to the recipient to initiate the contact. I've been there for a few of those first meetings. To say the least, they can be a moving experience. And then some. And in many cases the relationships will last forever. Philippi has thought about that, too. But for the time being, all he can do is wait. And hope.

"The last message I got from my 'Be The Match' contact said the patient is overall recovering well," he said. "He has somewhat returned to performing pre-transplant activities. He's even developed allergies to peanuts, soy and penicillin. I have all those. But I always say I've lived  21 years of my life with a peanut allergy. I think he can, too."

A little over 10 months ago, Philippi did his part. That involved getting shots for four days prior to the procedure to increase both his white-cell and stem-cell counts. It also gave him flu-like symptoms. He knew a little bit about what to expect since his mother, a breast-cancer survivor, had taken the same shots prior to starting her treatment.

He got a final injection at the hospital on the day he gave his marrow. Then he sat in a bed for seven hours with an IV in each arm watching his blood go into a machine and back into his body. He had his computer with him and watched his favorite shows on Netflix before finally finally asleep for a bit. After that it was in someone else's hands.

"I was worried a little," Philippi acknowledged. "I guess there was a kind of pressure that goes with it. I had a lot of doctor's appointments, a lot of paperwork had to be filled out. I didn't expect any of the media stuff that went with it. I just thought it was something I was going to do and it was going to be over with.

"Just being 20 at the time, I realized it was something I was going to remember for the rest of my life …

"They flew my mom in from California, and she had a hotel room. I went back there and slept for like five hours. Then we went out to dinner. An Italian place. I had a huge bowl of pasta …

"I had finals coming up. I didn't talk to my teachers much about it. I adapted. I got all my stuff done when I needed to. I studied pretty hard. I did well in those finals, actually."

The two-time defending Ivy League champions have lost four straight, are are winless in the league, heading into Saturday's game at Brown (also 2-4, 0-3). The three Ivy losses have been by 11 points, two on the last play (including one in overtime). Philippi, who has six career interceptions, is tied for third on the team in tackles. He will leave West Philly with at least two rings. He will also go off into the real world with a much bigger memory. The one that might keep on giving.

"This school is tough enough for most kids, and even harder for an athlete," said coach Ray Priore. "What he did just says so much. It says everything, really. Because that was infinitely bigger than anything he or we have done on the field. But it's easy for all of us to forget that sometimes."

Philippi will remain anxious until he finally knows one way or another. The unkown can be that way.

"I would love to meet the person," he said. It's kind of weird. If I do find out who he is, I'll be trying to like figure out who they are. Almost like stalking him on Facebook or something. And he'll be doing the same with me. But at the same time I think it'll be cool.

"That person is grateful for what I did. But I'm grateful to have gone through this opportunity. It's taught me a lot. And you never know what's going to happen down the road. I may need someone's help some day. Or one of my friends. Or someone in my family.

"I didn't think twice about doing it. It wasn't painful, or that evasive at all. People have asked me questions about it. I encourage anyone to do it if they get picked. During football season, I don't think about it as much. I'm focused on football, and school. But I'm sure once winter break starts, there will probably be only one thing on my mind."

A good thing, a healing thing. And maybe it's the most fulfilling part of the process.

"My family's always been pretty religious," Philippi said. "What happens happens. It's God's plan. All I can control is my choice. If it's not to be, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. But it would be awesome.

"If I never came to Penn, this may never have arose for me. So I'm thankful for that. I came all the way across the country. Then you think the odds of being picked, you put it all together and it's pretty crazy.

"This is just God working through me to do his works. He chose to put this weight on me, whatever you want to call it. And I said yes. I was putting my faith in him, to go through it. I guess it was showing him that I'm OK with this kind of responsibility. I'm really proud of that. But I always think I didn't do that much. All I did was go sit in a hospital bed for seven hours. It was the guy upstairs doing the work behind the scenes."

He just needed the right vehicle.