Earl Young’s story begins in Rome, but it does not end there.
At just 19 years old, Young stood on the Olympic stage as the youngest gold medalist in track and field at the 1960 Rome Olympics. A sophomore at Abilene Christian University, he found himself surrounded by older, seasoned athletes—many of whom had trained for years for a moment he reached before his twenties.
“I wasn’t beating everybody,” Young recalled. “I was just doing what it took to qualify. Looking back now, I see how special Rome really was. That’s where it all began.”
The gold medal launched a global career that carried Young around the world. For decades, he lived what many would describe as a full and successful life—until an unexpected doctor’s visit changed everything.
At age 71, Young was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-moving and often deadly blood cancer. What followed would redefine his understanding of success, faith, and purpose.
(We invite you to listen to the conversation between Jalon Caldwell and Earl Young in the podcast below).
A Diagnosis That Changed Everything
Young says the warning signs were subtle—a lingering cough, fatigue, a general feeling that something wasn’t right. A routine blood test quickly escalated into an emergency referral.
“I handed the oncologist my file, and he looked at it and said, ‘Mr. Young, this is not good,’” Young said. “Then he told me, ‘You have acute myeloid leukemia.’”
The prognosis was grim. Without treatment, Young was told he might have only three months to live. Chemotherapy could slow the disease, but there was only one possible cure: a stem cell transplant from a genetically matched donor.
“What would you like to do?” the doctor asked.
“Stem cell, please,” Young replied.
Within hours, he was hospitalized and began months of intensive chemotherapy while doctors searched an international registry of more than 22 million potential donors.
Unbeknownst to Young, his life now depended on a stranger living more than 5,000 miles away.
One Match Out of 22 Million
Two weeks before Young received his diagnosis, a woman named Christine Wag in Offenburg, Germany, made a simple decision. She registered as a stem cell donor, agreeing that if she was ever a match for someone in need, she would help.
She was the only match.
“My match was the only one out of 22 million people on file,” Young said. “Somewhere in life, you need to give up on coincidences.”
On January 20, 2012, Wag donated her stem cells. They were flown across the Atlantic to Dallas, Texas, where they were transplanted into Young. The procedure saved his life.
“I’ve been in remission ever since,” Young said. “And then I had to ask myself—what am I going to do with this second chance?”
Meeting the Woman Who Saved His Life
For two years, Young and Wag were not allowed to meet due to international transplant regulations. When that moment finally came, it happened in a way Young never expected.
While speaking at a luncheon in Dallas for DKMS, the global donor organization that facilitated his transplant, Young was abruptly told his time was up.
“They said, ‘Earl, we have someone we want you to meet,’” he recalled.
Wag stepped out from behind a curtain. She had flown from Germany without his knowledge.
“There was a lot of crying and hugging,” Young said. “This woman didn’t know a thing about me. She just volunteered to save my life.”
The experience, Young says, permanently changed both of them—something he now sees again and again in transplant donors and recipients.
“Everyone involved in a transplant is changed,” he said. “The giver and the receiver. You can’t help it.”
Turning Survival Into Service
Following his recovery, Young realized he could no longer live the same fast-paced, globe-trotting life he once did. Instead, he felt called to serve in a new way.
He founded Earl Young’s Team, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about stem cell donation and registering new donors. Over the past decade, the organization has helped register tens of thousands of potential donors and facilitated up to 173 life-saving matches.
“Just this morning I woke up to an email,” Young said. “A former college runner had signed up years ago—and she saved the life of a mother with five children. Those kids still have their mom because someone said yes.”
For Young, this work is deeply spiritual.
“You carry the medicine in your own body,” he said. “All you do is share what God gave you. It doesn’t harm you. It doesn’t take anything away from you. And you may save a stranger’s life.”
Faith, Purpose, and “Gold and Grace”
Young’s journey is chronicled in his new book, "Gold and Grace: The Higher Purpose of an Olympic Champion," now available on Amazon. The book weaves together his Olympic success, his cancer battle, and the faith that now defines his mission.
“The best life is the one that makes the most of our God-given gifts to reflect His glory,” Young writes.
He believes his leukemia diagnosis—while devastating—became the turning point of his life.
“The greatest day of my life was the day they told me I had AML,” Young said. “What it did for my spiritual life—I wouldn’t give it back.”
While running once defined his purpose, he now sees it as secondary.
“My speed brought me attention,” he said. “But this work—this is what really matters."
A Call to Live Beyond Yourself
Young hopes readers of "Gold and Grace" and listeners of his story walk away with one simple message: purpose is found in service.
“If you don’t learn to serve and take care of others, you pretty much fail at this life,” he said. “That’s what it’s about.”
He encourages people to start wherever they are—churches, universities, workplaces—and to look honestly at how they can help others.
“Just start,” Young said. “Everyone born on this earth is given the opportunity to do good.”
More than a story of athletic greatness or medical survival, Earl Young’s life now stands as a testament to the power of service—and to what can happen when one person decides to say yes.
As Young puts it, “How many chances do you get in life to actually save a person’s life? This gives you that chance.”
You can purchase "Gold and Grace: The Higher Purpose of an Olympic Champion" here
You can reach Earl Young's Team here
