Skip to content
Jada Bascom Foundation
Donate to JBF
Back to The Marrow Walk
South Sound to the Capitol

Finish · Completed

Olympia — the finish

Washington State Capitol, Olympia, WA

She made it to Olympia. The last miles, together.

The finish

Confirmed finish
Walked
3.8 miles

Route overview, not turn-by-turn directions.

Jeana smiles beneath the patterned dome inside the Washington State Capitol.
Photo shared by Jeana Moore · October 20, 2026

Jeana Moore completed the Marrow Walk in Olympia on October 20, 2026. Her journey around the Salish Sea carried a grandmother’s love and an invitation to consider joining an official blood stem cell donor registry.

First, a break. Then JBF plans to return to local college stem-cell and bone-marrow registration drives in Spokane, starting with Spokane Community College in early to mid-November. That is a planned timeframe; a date and location have not been confirmed.

JBF is a registry referrer, not a medical provider. Official registries handle registration and eligibility; JBF helps people find the registry where they live.

From the road

She made it to Olympia. The last miles, together.

Look at her smile beneath the Capitol dome. In a photograph from October 20, Jeana looks up at the camera, the patterned ceiling opening above her. In others, she is still wearing her backpack and yellow safety vest as she climbs the marble stairs and writes in an open book. She has made it to Olympia. Her fifth Steps to Marrow walk is complete.

There is a whole journey behind those photographs. It began with a grandmother’s gratitude: Torsten Huber, a donor in Germany, helped save Jeana’s granddaughter Jada. Years later, Jeana is still carrying that gift forward, asking people she meets to consider whether they, too, might join an official donor registry and one day help someone they have never met.

Along the road, she also had to receive. Her journals tell of wet gear, wrong turns and evenings spent looking for somewhere to sleep. They tell of a little shed in a garden, a place for her tent in a barn, and freshly washed clothes folded back into her backpack. Again and again, someone made the next day possible.

In the last week, that kindness had the shape of breakfast. Jeana met Amy for the third time in two days, and Amy bought her an egg sandwich, warm raspberry rolls and lemonade. Farther along, a man from Skokomish gave her his home-packed salmon and raspberry jam. Near Shelton, another man offered a ride. Jeana wanted to keep walking, so he went on — then returned with a cold can of pineapple nectar. It brought back memories of the drink her mother gave her as a child.

That evening, an invitation first offered from the back of a family van became a cottage in the woods. Lori welcomed Jeana, and Rebecca helped with rides. There was soup, a shower and a bed. The final miles were Jeana’s to walk, but these pages make clear how many people helped her get there.

On October 15, Jeana found words for what she was receiving: “People from all walks of life reach out to support me in completing this journey.” Her full reflection is quoted below. Hope, in these stories, is something people do for one another — sometimes as simple as turning around with a cold drink.

The message kept travelling, too. On the day before the finish, Lori helped Jeana reach interviews with Lorri Tracy at KGY Radio in Olympia and Gordon Weeks of the Shelton-Mason County Journal. That evening, Lori made signs for the next day. Then came October 20, and the last 3.8 miles.

She had breakfast and coffee in the little cabin, and Lori dropped her on the route with 3.8 miles left to walk to the Capitol. It was the perfect day, cool and sunny, and a beautiful route: past Capitol Lake, up the switchbacks to the Capitol building, and then up the 42 steps that stand for Washington’s place as the 42nd state to join the Union.

Jim Kopriva, from the Governor’s office, was the perfect person to meet her. He took photographs and video, and did an interview with Bloodworks Northwest in mind: they want to use the footage to encourage others to give blood and save lives. He is going to share the information around the Governor’s office, too. He is a man of action who delivers tangible results, she says. It was the best possible outcome for the end of the walk.

Having Lori there to cheer her on covered all the emotional bases. Lori shared the story with the people around them, and one by one they climbed the 42 steps of the Capitol to congratulate Jeana on completing the fifth Steps to Marrow walk. Afterwards Lori took her out for a celebration lunch overlooking West Bay: beautiful, peaceful, satisfying. Her sister Ramona and friends were celebrating too, with hand-lettered signs of their own.

Coming off the road will take some time, she writes. The journey has been a time of focused practice: of just walking, meeting people along the way just as they are, accepting what comes and celebrating what comes. After pouring so much heart into enrolling life-saving donors, returning to the usual pace of daily life will need a gentle, intentional shift. Crossing that final finish line and heading home, she wants to honour the rhythm of the open road and the incredible connections she has made.

So today we celebrate her perseverance, and every helping hand along the way. Thank you to the hosts who opened a door, the people who stopped to listen, the friends who kept showing up, and everyone who followed from afar. Jeana has finished the walk. The hope she carried into those conversations still has somewhere to go.

First, a break. Then JBF plans to return to local college stem-cell and bone-marrow registration drives in Spokane, starting with Spokane Community College in early to mid-November. That is a planned timeframe; a date and location have not been confirmed.

Perhaps the next small beginning is yours. Find the official registry for the country where you live, learn about eligibility and what donation can involve, and decide whether to take that first step. A gift to JBF supports education and outreach; joining a registry is a separate choice.

This finish story was written by the Jada Bascom Foundation from Jeana’s journals and the final-day photographs she shared. Her quoted words are from October 15, and her account of the last day is from her October 20 journal. Photos shared by Jeana Moore; thank you to everyone who helped capture these moments.

JBF is a registry referrer, not a medical provider. Official registries handle registration and eligibility; JBF helps people find the registry where they live.

People from all walks of life reach out to support me in completing this journey. This is the actualization of loving kindness.

Jeana Moore, October 15, 2026 journal
Jeana smiles up at the camera beneath the patterned dome and arches inside the Washington State Capitol.Jeana, wearing her yellow safety vest and backpack, walks along a paved roadside path beneath a blue sky.A colourful mural of open hands and flowers painted on a wall along the route.The Washington State Capitol dome rises beyond the blue water of Capitol Lake.A waterfront path curves around Capitol Lake beneath autumn trees.A leafy path runs between sunlit autumn trees on the approach to the Capitol.The Washington State Capitol dome and columns appear through golden autumn leaves.Jeana climbs the broad outdoor steps toward the Washington State Capitol, with another person beside her.Jeana and a man in a tan jacket smile together outside the Capitol doors.Jeana talks outside the Capitol while a man in a tan jacket holds up a phone.Jeana stands by the Capitol entrance beside a man in a tan jacket.Jeana speaks with a man at a wooden reception desk inside the Capitol.
Show all 47 photos from this dayShow fewer photos
Still wearing her backpack and safety vest, Jeana writes in an open book on a table inside the Capitol.Jeana walks up marble stairs beneath a tall arched window inside the Capitol.Jeana stands beside a marble staircase under the high ceiling of the Capitol rotunda.Jeana stands in the spacious marble rotunda, with flags, balconies and an arched window around her.A welcome sign on a door traces the route from Seattle through British Columbia and Vancouver Island to Olympia and reads, One step for Jeana. A lifetime for others.A gold star balloon and a yellow smile balloon hang together in a celebration of the finished walk.Jeana’s sister Ramona and two friends cheer in a sunny field above an autumn valley, holding hand-lettered signs reading “Hurray Jeana! Steps to Marrow V” and “Bravo! Seattle to Vancouver, Canada to Olympia, WA. Jeana, 315 miles, is awesome!”A tall metal sculpture shaped like a mushroom stands beside a trail among autumn trees.A sidewalk runs beside a wide street lined with autumn trees, under a blue sky with puffy white clouds.The Capitol dome rises in the distance beyond the water and leafy trees.A carved and painted wooden figure in a green hat stands in a landscaped waterside park, with short wooden posts set in the ground around it.Blue water stretches to a wooded shore and a marina under a clear sky.The Capitol dome rises above the trees across Capitol Lake, with a lamppost and a lawn in front and waterbirds on the water.Flocks of geese and ducks rest on the lake below a wooded shore.The Capitol dome appears across the still lake, framed by overhanging leaves.The Capitol dome and its columns seen through branches and autumn leaves.Mallard ducks paddle and stand in the shallows among overhanging branches.A railway crossing sign with a double-headed arrow reads LOOK, fixed to a chain-link fence.The lake and its wooded shores seen from a hillside path through autumn trees.A view over the water toward the town and distant hills under a clear blue sky.An interpretive sign titled “Washington’s State Capitol Design”, with the history of the design and drawings of the Capitol campus and dome.The domed Washington State Capitol at the end of a curving drive, with autumn trees and parked cars.The Capitol’s columned front and broad steps, with parked cars in the foreground.A woman holds up boards of signs for Jeana at the foot of the Capitol steps, with smiley-face and star balloons above her.Jeana stands with two men outside the Capitol, one in a tan jacket and one in black.Beneath the Capitol’s tall columns, Jeana in her safety vest talks with a man in a tan jacket.Seen from behind in her backpack and vest, Jeana looks around the Capitol rotunda, with flags, a gilded balcony and a tall arched window above.A yellow smiley-face balloon and an orange star balloon tied up against a wooden wall.Signs on a door read “Jada Bascom Foundation, National Stem Cell Registries”, “315 miles, one step at a time. You did it!!! Every mile was a story” and “Welcome back Jeana”.A round sticker on a window reads “Everyone is welcome here” around a rainbow-coloured hand.Close-up of red-orange Japanese maple leaves.Orange maple leaves and tufts of pale lichen against a blue sky.Bright orange maple leaves and lichen-covered twigs against the sky.A deer stands among the trees and autumn undergrowth.A deer grazes on the grass at the edge of the woods.
Distance walked
3.8 miles
Find your official registryDonate to JBFSee every stop

Choose where you live

Continue to the official registry that serves you. It decides eligibility, handles registration and contacts you if you may match a patient.

United States — NMDP

NMDP accepts new registry members who are 18 to 35, live in the US, its territories or freely associated states, can meet NMDP’s health guidelines, and are not already registered through another US organization. Joining happens at home: you answer a few questions on NMDP’s site, they mail you a free cheek-swab kit, and you swab and send it back. Once you are a member you stay listed until you are 61 unless you ask to be removed — 61 is when NMDP takes you off, not an age at which you can join. NMDP makes the final eligibility decision.

Check the listed age range

Visit NMDP

NMDP — Join the registry · checked Sep 1, 2026

Prefer to text? Send JADA to 61474 and NMDP will take it from there.

Browse all official registry options

Eligibility rules can change. Confirm the current requirements with the official registry before joining.

Give to the Jada Bascom Foundation

Choose a symbolic amount or enter your own in Givebutter. Your donation supports JBF’s work wherever it is needed most.

Sponsoring a mile, a day or a stop is a way of describing a gift to the Jada Bascom Foundation. It does not purchase anything on the route.

$100.00 is a suggested amount. Confirm or change it in Givebutter.

Donate through Givebutter

Donate without the embedded form

Sources

Local history and background reading for this stop.

  1. Legislative Building — checked Sep 5, 2026
  2. Legislative Building history — checked Sep 5, 2026
  3. RCW 41.06.570 — checked Sep 5, 2026
  4. Jada, Torsten and the reason for the walk — checked Sep 25, 2026
  5. Join the donor registry — checked Sep 5, 2026
  6. Stem cell donation eligibility and registration — checked Sep 5, 2026
The flyer: STOP BLOOD CANCER set in tall letters over a dark plum page, a quote, and a QR code beside a text-to-join line for the U.S.One standing face of the table tent: the same headline and quote on the left, a large QR code on the right.

Take it off the screen

Print it. Put it where people already stand.

A coffee counter, a church foyer, a break room, a race table. Every sheet carries the code that opens Jeana’s walk, and a number to text for anyone who would rather not scan — no app, no wifi, nothing to hand back.Every sheet carries the code that opens Jeana’s walk — nothing to install, nothing to hand back. The number to text printed beside it is for joining NMDP, which registers people who live in the U.S., its territories and the freely associated states. If you live anywhere else, find your country’s registry.

Everything else for running a drive

Rather be the one at the table?

Host a registration drive at your school, work or place of worship, raise funds, or lend a skill. Tell us what you have in mind and we will help you plan it.

Ways to volunteerHost a registration drive