Source: www.9news.com
DENVER – For six years now, Duke Saeman has waited to meet the man who saved his life. On Tuesday, October 14th, 2014, his wait was over when the 29-year-old German man arrived at Denver International Airport.
Saeman was diagnosed with leukemia in 2008. The prognosis was grim. Doctors only gave him about two months to live.
“I was lethargic,” he said. “It was tough to get up the energy to do things I wanted to do, and it progressively got worse.”
They said he needed a stem cell transplant, but finding the perfect donor would be tough.
There were only two “10 for 10” matches, both from overseas. Saeman’s match came from Germany.
Doctors typically expect patients will take 30 to 45 days to recover from that kind of transplant. Duke was released after five days and has been healthy and leukemia-free ever since.
Saeman set out on a mission to find the donor. After two years he found his donor.
Saeman then went to work, planning a trip for 29-year-old Marco and his girlfriend to come to Denver and meet his family. This week Saeman’s dream came true.
“I’m extremely excited to meet this young man and I’m going to treat him like a king while he’s here,” he said.
Saeman paid all of Marco’s expenses for the 10-day trip, which will include a trip to Las Vegas, somewhere Marco wanted to see.
9NEWS was there when Marco and Duke met at the airport. Duke wanted to share his story to inspire others to sign up for the donor registry.
For more information on how you can become a donor click here.
(KUSA-TV © 2014 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
Tags: stem cell news, stem cell transplant, Stem Cells For Leukemia
