Duquesne University football player donating bone marrow after finding match through team's drive

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - During the holiday season, there's a lot of emphasis on gift-giving. But few can say that they're giving the gift of life this year.   

That's exactly what's on one Duquesne University football player's gift list.

Ayden Garnes is home for the holidays in Philly, tossing around a football with his little brother and putting the finishing touches on the family Christmas tree.

But his biggest gift this year is something he can't wrap. 

"You never know what you have that could save somebody else's life," Garnes said.

These days, Ayden spends a lot of time on the bluff at Duquesne University where he plays football. His grandfather introduced him to the game when he was 5. 

"My pop pop passed when I was 8. That really -- that really hurt me and so ever since then, that's why I wear number 8. It's for him."

One highlight this year: the game against Hawaii in Honolulu. 

"I had an interception and a forced fumble, couple tackles," he said. "We lost that game, a nailbiter in the fourth quarter. But I feel like after that game, 'okay I can play at this level, I can do this.'"  

Another highlight was participating in the team's annual bone marrow drive. It's a collaboration started on campus several years ago by Duquesne head coach Jerry Schmitt to support the Andy Talley Bone Marrow Foundation. The idea is to increase the donors in the Be The Match registry, make more matches and save more lives. It's a simple swab. 

"The whole football team, coaching staff, trainers, equipment managers, we all did it," he said. 

But only one player was a match: Ayden.

"I was like, 'Okay I'm going to think about this.' And my mom, she was a little -- she was like, 'Why would you want to do that for a random person?' I was like, 'it's saving a life.'" 

Ayden won't get to meet the recipient yet. He only knows it's a female in her 20s from outside the U.S. His donation is set for January. 

"It's going to be two incisions on the side of my hips, on the side of my hips and they are going to go in and they can make over 100 incisions inside, but it's going to look like it's one incision outside," he explained.

 Team defensive coordinator Michael Craig has watched Ayden. He sees him as an athlete and a team leader.

"He's a quality young person that represents our university really well and our football program really well and this is just another feather in his cap for the type of man he is," he said.

It's likely a once-in-a-lifetime chance to give someone else the gift of life so that they can live it out. 

"I think of stuff like that. She might be the person that cures cancer, or something like that," Ayden said.