Lyle, 21, is a shot-putter at New Hampshire and was training to compete in the America East Conference championships next month. He will forego this opportunity for something far more important. It didn't start out that way, though. Lyle was no different than thousands of other college students across the country.
Health drives are held on campuses all the time. When Lyle was screened in the school cafeteria two years ago, he never thought it would lead to anything significant. That all changed when Lyle received a call earlier this year saying he may be a match for someone. He completed a battery of tests which confirmed him as a match for the would-be recipient.
As the realization set in that his senior season was over, Lyle kept things in the right perspective. "It's just a sport", he told ABC's Good Morning America. "Just because it's Division I college level doesn't make it any more important . Life is more important than that. So, it was pretty easy." Please take a moment to watch the Good Morning America segment below (email subscribers click here).
Many of us have these opportunities and we choose not to act on them. Maybe yours isn't donating bone marrow. Maybe it's helping a kid with her homework, cutting your elderly neighbor's lawn or volunteering as an assistant coach on a local youth sports team this summer. Lyle's story may make you cry. I hope it also makes you think. How can we use our abilities - athletic and otherwise - to help someone else?
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