In accordance with general transplant policy, Kuo's donor, who is currently described only as a young Asian woman, will remain anonymous for a year.

James C. Kuo, Alan's father, said that the family believes the donor probably participated in one of the bone marrow drives Kuo's family and friends conducted.

But Mark Simonoff, a friend of Kuo's since high school who helped organize the Harvard drive with the Chinese Students' Association, said the donor probably did not come from the Harvard drive.

Kuo found his donor less than a week after the Harvard students did a good deed.

"As far as Harvard is concerned, even though they didn't help Alan, probably down the road they'll be called on to help someone else." Simonoff said.

Indeed, Harrison Lin '99, president of the Chinese Students Association, said it was "entirely possible" to organize another bone marrow drive in a couple of years.

"It was a huge success the first time we did it," Lin said. "I don't see why we won't do it again."

But even after finding a donor, Kuo had a hard battle to fight, Simonoff said.

"I was talking to him last Thanksgiving [after Kuo had found his donor] and I was thinking there was a 50-50 chance, but then he said 20 percent." Simonoff said. "I was really worried because that didn't seem like good odds."

Kuo's advanced stage of leukemia and the fact that his donor was not a complete match, having one different antigen, lowered the odds of Kuo's recovery. After Kuo's transplant operation on Dec. 10, Kuo had a brush with death. Near Christmas, his liver and kidney functions went almost fatally askew.

But as of yesterday, Kuo's liver and kidney functions have improved greatly. Kuo's transplanted bone marrow has engrafted--been accepted by his body--and his graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) has been mild.

According to Dr. Stan Riddell of the Hutchinson Center, a scenario such as this is the best that a patient could hope for. But Kuo is still not totally off the hook. According to his father, Kuo is still at risk for developing a more serious case of GVHD, and the possibility of a relapse is "still high" for his first year of recovery. However, the risk of relapse decreases with time.

"It isn't over until it's over, but I think he's coming out of the tunnel," Simonoff said. "It does seem miraculous...[but] he just has the will to live.