Cape Town - The chance of finding him was one in 100 000, so it was an extraordinary experience for a local bone marrow recipient on Monday when he met the German stranger who saved his life seven years ago.
Joshua King, 19, met donor Maximilian Klausing at the SA Bone Marrow Registry (SABMR) offices at Groote Schuur Hospital after the 30-year-old flew to Cape Town to meet and bring hope to others in need of transplants.
September is Stem Cell Donation Month and The Sunflower Fund and the SABMR are encouraging the public to register as possible donors.
While the SABMR currently has 72 000 registered bone marrow donors on its database, the chances of finding a match for a patient diagnosed with a blood disease is one in 100 000.
For a successful transplant, the patient and donor would have to be near-genetic twins.
King was only 10 when he was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, a cancer of the lymphatic system.
Doctors initially thought he had a blocked stomach, but later found a tumour the size of a cricket ball in his stomach. He underwent 10 sessions of five-day chemotherapy and went into remission in 2009.
However, King still needed a bone marrow transplant and relatives were tested for a possible match without success.
When the search was broadened, match was eventually found with Klausing, thousands of kilometres away in Germany.
In just two months, King’s community in Durbanville managed to raise R700 000 for a successful transplant.
On Monday, with family and friends present, the two finally met. They talked nervously, trying to find common ground.
King said it was only beginning to sink in that he had met the donor who saved his life.
“It’s still a shock. We just met, so I don’t know much about him, but it’s nice to meet the guy who saved your life. I am extremely grateful.”
King is taking a gap year to decide his future studies and career.
For those in a similar position to that in which he found himself seven years ago, he said: “Always try and keep your mind occupied with things that you enjoy. Take one day at a time.
“Trust that the treatment you are receiving is going to work, that the medical staff are competent and that it is a stage in your life that you need to overcome.”
His father, Peter King, said he was ”eternally” grateful to Klausing.
“I don’t know what our lives would have been like without Joshua. My life wouldn’t be the same.”
Now an engineer, Klausing first registered as a donor through a German Bone Marrow Registry group when the principal of his primary school was diagnosed with blood cancer.
When he received the call that a patient was in need of a transplant, Klausing discussed the decision to donate stem cells with his family and someone who had already been through the process.
“I was naturally curious as to who the recipient may be and imagined it would be someone from my close surroundings. I could not envision that my bone marrow would be a match to someone so far away.
“I don’t know him, but somehow we are connected to each other,”Klausing said.
A month after the transplant, he said King had sent him a letter saying he was on his way to recovery.
“I was happy to hear that, especially because he was a child who still had his whole life ahead of him. I have kept his first letter to help me remember the difference I made in the life of this young boy.”
According to the SABMR, about 30 percent of patients find a match within their families while the other 70 percent rely on finding a match from an unrelated donor to provide them with the chance of survival.
Every year there are thousands affected by blood diseases like leukaemia, aplastic anaemia and other inherited genetic blood disorders.
Stem cell transplants are a lifesaving treatment option for those diagnosed with these blood diseases.
To register as a donor call The Sunflower Fund toll-free number 0800 121 082 or 021 701 0661 or visit www.sunflowerfund.org.za
Cape Times