In July 2005 the little son of my best friend died of a brain tumor. He was not even three years old. Shortly afterwards, a good friend fell ill with leukemia at 30 years and he did not survive. In the following years a neighbor and a colleague were diagnosed with leukemia. I was shocked at how many people have become ill. 2008 I came across DKMS and registered as a donor..

In June 2010, I got a call from DKMS telling me that I am a possible match  for a patient and was asked for blood tests. DKMS made an appointment with my GP and sent the test items. After blood collection it went very fast: Less than two weeks later another call from DKMS. My tissue characteristics match 100 percent. Since the patient needed a transplant fast, I had to leave as quickly as possible to make the preliminary tests and the donation should also be performed as soon as possible.

On 28 July I wanted to go to Hungary to watch Formula I, the donation needed to be done before. The preliminary tests took place July 6 in Dresden, the donation on 22 July. A day later another call came in. There is no free appointment in Dresden, so I have to go to Nuremberg. Great!  I live in Munich and the train ride to Nuremberg only takes an hour. At work I talked to my boss and told him about my donation. I'm a police officer and everything needs to be done by rule. He began to call to work things out. And lo and behold, it was easy. I was officially on special leave for the day.

On July 6 I arrived on time at the Hospital Nuremberg-North. After everyone thanked me several times for my willingness to donate, I was taken to a treatment room by a very nice young nurse where twelve tubes of blood were taken from my blood stream. Then I got my docket to the various examinations: hearing test, eye test, complete ultrasound examination, various educational talks, etc. The ultrasound examination I liked the best. Five doctors and nurses in the room, all merry and spoke the most beautiful Franconian. At noon I was finished and I went back home.

Three days later I got the information that the results of the preliminary tests were fine and that the donation can take place as planned. So on 21 July I found myself with my little suitcase again in Nuremberg. At this time there was only one bed in my room and I could briefly enjoy a single room.

The next morning there was no breakfast but two funny pills. The anesthetic worked so quickly that I missed the next hour. At some point I woke up again, lots of beds around me and a nurse was standing before me: "Well, how are you?" Besides enormous pain, all right. Shortly after, we went back to my room and I slept a little until I was woken by my neighbor who had been dreaming and started to scream loudly. Okay, I am awake. Then there was already a doctor who informed me that the surgery went well. 1.3 liters of stem cells and blood were taken out of me; the doctors had drilled in my iliac bone seven times. Got it. Now I know why I was hurting so much.

The next morning I was released from hospital and went back home. I was incredibly tired. Unfortunately, on the train the air conditioning was not working properly. After ninety minutes I shut the door to my apartment feeling happy.

The next day I spent on the couch, tired all the time. On 28 July I travelled to Hungary, where I got the call from DKMS that my stem cell donation was transplanted to a 37 year old American.
Two months later I received a letter from DKMS: "The transplanted cells are grown in the patient well and he has already been released to go home!" Good to know. Has paid off. It is now exactly two years ago. Whether I would do it again? Anytime!

Enrico Rahn from Schwedt works as a security agent for Securitas. In his free time he is involved with the volunteer firefighter department. Helping other people is a matter of course for him. This is why he registered with DKMS as a potential stem cell donor in May 2008. His goal of helping other people in need became a reality in November 2011 when Enrico Rahn donated his stem cells to a 15-year-old patient from Russia.

"In May 2008 I registered on the internet page of the German Bone Marrow Donor Center (DKMS). A few days later there was a little package in my mail box with cotton swabs for the buccal swab. After I performed the swab, I sent the swabs back.

Nothing happened until April 2011. And then I received another package from DKMS. It contained blood tubes and a letter. It read that based on my tissue characteristics I might be a match for a leukemia patient, but that this would have to be tested in more detail with a blood sample. I took the set to my doctor to have blood taken. After I submitted this I got an email a few days later saying that I’m an eligible donor for the patient.

I didn’t hear anything until the start of November, and then I got a call from DKMS at which point I was informed that the donation was going to get serious and I was also asked if I agreed and we spoke about dates for the preliminary examination and the location of the stem cell donation. The next day I took this information to my division manager Hartmut Sack and operations manager Holger Jost. I requested leave to carry out the donation. Both agreed and started right away to rearrange work schedules and ask colleagues to stand in for me.

On 11 November the preliminary examination took place at Dresden university hospital. The results of this were positive and on 28 November I drove with my family to Dresden. My girlfriend and daughter stayed in a hotel and I spent the night in the clinic. The next day early in the morning the bone marrow harvest took place from the iliac crest under general anesthetic. Everything went well and one day later I was released to go home. I was excused from work for one week.

One day after my return home I called my division manager, Mr. Sack, and told him that everything went well with the donation and I asked him about how to proceed with sick pay. I told him he can have my sick pay reimbursed by DKMS. His response surprised me and made me happy. He said that he would like to donate the money to DKMS and that he only wants a donation receipt. A lab test for a typing of a potential donor costs around EUR 50. Thanks to his donation, DKMS can assume the lab test and additional costs for stem cell donors. I would like to thank him for this.

My donation went to Russia. A 15-year-old boy had been diagnosed with a serious form of leukemia. I hope that my “genetic twin” will be healthy again as a result of my bone marrow donation.Roughly 100 days after the donation DKMS enquired at the clinic about the health of the patient and informed me.

Some three weeks after my donation there was a registration drive in my city for a leukemia patient from the region. In the fire engine at the department where I volunteer I tried to encourage the colleagues to register themselves and was successful with seven of them.

Personally I would be happy if, as a result of this story, I have made more employees in our large group stop and think. My appeal to all colleagues at SECURITAS is: “Have yourselves registered and maybe give a person the chance to live”. At DKMS the motto is: “Jeder einzelne zählt” or every single person counts."

The brothers Tom and Nico do not only go through thick and thin together, but they also went tothe stem cell donation at the same time.A one-of-a-kind experience for all involved.

These are two very special brothers. Tom (left) and Nico (right) Krichels have triggered tremendous surprise with DKMS employees. That is because both became candidates at the same time as donors for two patients from the U.S. in 2008. The brothers do not hesitate for a second. And 23-year-old Tom, who is telling this story, is therefore sitting next to his older brother Nico during the donation in Frankfurt.

"It all started in 2006 with a school friend of Nico named Alberto who suffered from leukemia. Subsequently, our entire family registered as a donor. Two years later, Nico and I received mail from the DKMS. The letter informed us that our tissue characteristics matched with two patients. We were very surprised that the letter was addressed to both of us. A discussion with the DKMS confirmed it: they had never before made the experience that two brothers match with different patients at the same time! Somewhere in the world (it was determined later that it was in the U.S.) there were two patients in a similar situation who probably did not even know each other and whose genetic characteristics match ours to a tee!Do the two somehow resemble each other?!

We were asked to travel to Frankfurt as soon as possible in order to undergo a preliminary examination there. Everything went perfectly so that it was time just a little bit later: the harvesting of stem cells was next. The trip already took place the evening before with an overnight in a hotel. In the morning after a good breakfast, we drove to the clinic. After a short preliminary examination, we were able to be seated.The stem cell collection was initiated now, a cannula in the right as well as in the left arm, i.e. the stem cells are filtered from the blood like in a dialysis procedure. What was really funny was that we were sitting across from each other and we kept our eyes on each other the whole time. Not next to each other so that, by no means, nothing will be confused and so that the patients receive the right cells!

During the five-hour collection, we watched films, listened to music and had something to eat and drink as a diversion. So it wasn’t that bad at all. However, it is somewhat different from being at home on the couch. I was relieved when everything was over. Namely, the freedom to move was restricted during the collection, which consequently led to really sore muscles.However, the stem cell harvest for the donor is nothing in comparison to what the patients have to go through! We hope that we have really been able to help you.

This experience was a very special one for us that we will remember forever. We would do it again and again. And especially if we are allowed to donate together."

Tom & Nico Krichels