australian leukemia patient travels 16,000 kilometers to the uk to thank stem cell donor
2024-09-10
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according to a report by the british newspaper the mirror on september 8, australian man matt skeet suffered from acute myeloid leukemia, and surgeons had only a few minutes to perform a stem cell transplant on him. incredibly, the donor's stem cells traveled a long way from the royal highland hospital in sheffield, england, all the way to perth, western australia. two years after the successful operation, matt and his family traveled thousands of miles to the uk to thank the donor in person.
that was in february 2021, 10 years after donor kate first joined the stem cell registry. in june this year, matt, 44, flew his wife jodie and daughters from albany, western australia, to the uk, 10,000 miles (about 16,000 kilometers) away, to meet kate and thank her. kate, 31, a hospital communications manager, and her 29-year-old fiancé rhys oakes, who live in sheffield, met matt's family in the town of bakewell, derbyshire. kate said: "our two families had the most wonderful day together. i couldn't believe they came so far to see me. it's great to know that i gave matt a chance to live. i felt like i had known him when i first saw him. we hugged each other and were happy to meet his family."
matt is very grateful to kate for giving him a second chance at life. he said: "we hope to express our gratitude to kate in person. i want to introduce my wife and two daughters to her. it is because of her selflessness that their father and husband can survive. kate's help to us is immeasurable and will always light up our lives. she is an amazing person and we are grateful and lucky to know her. we will keep in touch and hope that one day she can come to australia to visit us."
matt was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in 2020 and was rushed to a hospital in perth on the day he became ill. doctors said a stem cell transplant was his only chance of survival. in 2011, kate registered for stem cell and bone marrow donation at a freshman assembly at leeds metropolitan university. kate and matt's bone marrow are a match. she said: "ten years have passed since i registered, and i have never matched with anyone. i was very surprised to receive an email from the charity anthony nolan out of the blue in february 2021 saying that i was matched with someone who needed a transplant. i chose to donate without hesitation because i knew someone needed my help. but i thought the recipient might be from the uk or europe, and i never thought of australia."
kate's stem cells were removed at the royal highland hospital, frozen and shipped to australia. however, after a stem cell or bone marrow donation, the recipient must wait two years before contacting the donor, so it wasn't until february this year that matt contacted kate through the charity anthony nolan. kate said: "i always wanted to know if the transplant was successful, so when i heard matt wanted to contact me, i knew it was successful. i was very happy to hear from him." matt's first email was sent in april. in the letter, he thanked kate for the donation and explained what it meant to his family. after that, they became good friends. kate said: "it was great to hear that he had recovered so well. we shared each other's family situations and he also said that before the transplant, he was allergic to walnuts, but now he is not allergic. i'm glad we got to know each other."
a spokesperson for the charity anthony nolan said: "in addition to australia, we can also ship stem cells to new zealand, mexico, chile, south africa and brazil for transplantation. we have shipped stem cells to new zealand, which is farther than australia. however, in new zealand, recipients and donors cannot have direct contact. as far as we know, this is the farthest that a recipient has ever traveled to thank a donor in person." (reported by china youth network)
(source: china youth network)
