To have a generous spirit – a servant's heart, a selfless self– is to give without expectation of return.

Some people give of themselves in obscure but profound ways that cry out for recognition so all can find inspiration. And maybe emulate the sacrifice.

Here is one such story: The very survival of James Chippendale of Dallas can be traced to a stranger on the other side of the globe, in Germany. That stranger, Klaus Kaiser, who repairs bicycles, offered his bone marrow to a friend diagnosed with leukemia, according to a report in The New York Times. His marrow was incompatible, but Mr. Kaiser agreed to be listed on the worldwide marrow registry.

On any given day, 6,000 Americans afflicted with leukemia, lymphoma or other diseases hope the registry will produce a match. Eight years ago, Mr. Chippendale, diagnosed with leukemia, was one of those. His second chance at life came when the registry matched him with the anonymous Mr. Kaiser. After marrow was extracted from Mr. Kaiser's hip and flown to Dallas, doctors at Baylor University Medical Center performed the transplant.

His health restored, Mr. Chippendale, a business executive, had the experience that many don't have – the chance to meet the donor and express gratitude and a torrent of other emotions. He has since co-founded an international charity – the Love Hope Strength Foundation – to extend opportunities for survival to all parts of the world.

This year Baylor will perform nearly 300 bone marrow transplants. About a third of those will involve life-saving tissue donated not by non-family members, but by strangers.

Science and medicine make it possible to restore health by implanting donated or harvested tissue and organs. Technology enables the medical community to match patient and anonymous donors in ways unimaginable a few years ago.

But it all starts with the human heart and the selfless spirit of generosity.

To donate tissue or organs

It involves more than checking a box on a driver's license. Would-be donors need to take care of details to give healthy marrow or allow organs to be harvested after death. For information contact:

• For bone marrow information locally, contact the National Marrow Donor Program at Baylor University Medical Center, (214) 820-1589, or Carter BloodCare (214) 217-5663.

Nationally, marrow.org has additional information.

For organs, visit donatelifetexas.org, or organ.org.