Fighting cancer is personal for Hammond police officer who donated his own stem cells

HAMMOND, Ind. (WLS) -- A suburban police officer's decision made a life saving gift through his selfless generosity.

Hammond Police Officer Adam Seles said some cancer patients wait years for a stem cell or bone marrow donor.

He was able to help one man by sharing his own blood, and hopes to one day meet him.

He is even ready to donate again if needed.

"Most of my family has had cancer," Seles said.

For Seles, fighting cancer is personal. Both his grandfathers died from it.

"One passed away when I was four, so I didn't know him as well. And my other grandfather, I was close to I was with him almost every day. And also my father-my father had prostate cancer which he beat," Seles said.

Seles said one day he saw a tent about donating blood for people in need at his son's T-ball game.

"For cancer patients their stem cells aren't good and they can't fight off the disease," he said.

He got injections twice a day to get ready for his donation.

"What that does is it produces more stem cells and pushes it through the bone marrow, that way it's easy to get out when you're taking the blood," Seles explained.

The process definitely was not painless.

"If I can deal with a little bit of pain to save somebody, count me in," Seles said.

Helping others is just who Seles is.

"When I'm a police officer afterwards I don't just shut off. I'm still a person and I'm still doing whatever I can on and off the job to help people save lives," he said "Anything that I can do, I'm there. Whether working or I'm not."

Seles believes there are people who are perfect matches for cancer patients out there and maybe seeing this story they will step up.

He went through the non-profit Be The Match.