21 years ago, my husband, Marc, was diagnosed with AML. He went into a short remission but the cancer returned. He needed a bone marrow transplant. No one was a match in his family. After a long, desperate search, a donor was found.
I won't bother to tell you about the difficult journey through the bone marrow transplant; you all know. We made it through!
5 years after the transplant we were given the option of communicating with the donor; we were so happy to hear that they were also open to communicating.
We found out Marc's donor was a lady from Germany. After a few letters back and forth, we asked if they wanted to meet, somewhere in Germany, just to have dinner somewhere so we could say thank you in person. After a long pause, no answer for several weeks we thought that meeting us might be too much for them. Which was understandable. But! To our great surprise, they invited us to their home. It was a shock and we were so nervous; as I am sure they were too.
We met in the airport, total strangers! But in truth "blood relatives."
To make a long story short, we spent 5 days as guests in their home. It was like visiting with long lost family. We became the best of friends, it was like we had known each other for years.
Marc's donor, Christa, her husband Jörge and 3 kids were like family by the end of our visit. We have had several vacations with their family in the last 15 years. They have also come to stay with us in Edmonton.
This year is the 20th anniversary of Marc's bone marrow transplant. We vacationed with them again this summer; this time in Berlin! The attached photo is of Marc (at left) with me, Christa and Jörge. It was taken at the Berlin Wall.
