Cognosante Employee Recognized by DoD with Guard and Reserve Patriot Award

It’s not every day that you get to wake up and be a hero; that day came recently for one of our own.

Cognosante’s ER&R/1095-A Engagement Manager, Todd Heishman, joined the Be the Match bone marrow registry almost twenty years ago when a colleague needed a life-saving transplant, but it wasn’t until February 2018 that he received the call that he was identified as the best possible match for the eight-year-old daughter of an active duty member of the U.S. armed services terminally ill with leukemia. For Todd, the father of six children himself, there was never a question in his mind that he would do whatever it would take, and endure whatever discomfort might be involved, to provide this young girl (who had been given less than six months to live) with the hope of a new lease on life. The transplant was performed in mid-March, and the initial results of tests performed a few weeks later showed that the young girl’s system is responding very favorably to the infusion of the new marrow. While she is still not yet out of the woods, the medical team reported that “the prognosis for her complete recovery has improved tremendously.”

It is therefore no surprise that Todd was recently presented with the Service Member Patriot Award by the Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). Established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment, this award distinguishes Todd, and recognizes the contribution he and other employers around the country make to National Security and to protecting liberty and freedom by supporting employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve Force. He was first nominated for this award by one of his employees, Richard Abril, ER&R/1095-A Data Intake Manager and Consumer Disputes Product Owner. Richard is a Reservist and currently serves as a Gunnery Sergeant – Recruiting Support Officer in the U.S. Marine Corps Recruiting Command.

It is this type of selfless service that embodies the Cognosante way, and according to Erick Peters, Cognosante’s CTO, exemplifies “exactly what we all hope for in a teammate, colleague, and servant.”

For more information on how you can become a bone marrow donor, and to join the national registry, please visit www.bethematch.org.