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!

Bernhard Adolffs from Kerpen-Horrem registered with DKMS as a potential stem cell donor in 1998 as part of a donor drive sponsored by the volunteer firefighters in his hometown. The then 38-year-old welding specialist hoped to be able to help a leukemia patient. In October 2009 that time came. Bernhard Adolffs donated his stem cells and gave a patient hope for a new lease on life. In the meantime he has met the recipient. Below he talks about his stem cell donation and the meeting with his genetic twin.

"When I was called and asked if I would still be willing to donate stem cells I didn’t hesitate at all. And even later I never felt this decision was wrong. My family supported my decision without any why’s and wherefore’s. My friends had mixed reactions because most of them were unfamiliar with the process of a stem cell donation.

The procedure of the donation was explained to me by DKMS in great detail and I didn’t really prepare myself for the donation.When the time came to give myself the injections I took time off work; I didn’t know how the injections would impact my body. The donation itself was problem-free. My body tolerated it well. I would like to add here that I was well cared for in the clinic in Dresden. 
I didn’t have any notion of the patient. That really didn’t play a role for me. I only hoped that my donation would really help the young person.

This might sound a little odd but I was very relaxed when I drove to the first meeting with the recipient of my stem cells. I visited Robin and his family at their home. My wife and I were received very warmly. Robin’s mother, in particular, and his aunt were very euphoric to see me and were full of thanks. At first I was at a real loss for words. We naturally had a lot to say to each other and so we got to know each other quickly. Robin told me that he now has another blood type. My wife and I stayed the night.

The next morning we drove home. Saying good-bye was hard for Robin and his family. And for me it was not an easy good-bye either because I had grown a little fond of Robin and his family.

We talk on the phone weekly and when the next opportunity arises I will visit Robin again."

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 master baker, Axel Drewes (right), had already saved the life of his genetic twin, Eric (left) with a stem cell donation in 2004. A close friendship has interlinked the 27-year-old German with the Englishman ever since then. When he helped again in 2010 and donated more leukocytes to »his« patient, he never would have even dreamed that he would enable a new life to be given to two people on this day in parallel.

"It was a very normal day, just about like every day this week. My wife, Stefanie, and I were doing fine because we were happily expecting our first child – Stefanie was in her seventh month of pregnancy. I was checking my e-mails and I saw one from Eric in England, whose life I had already saved in September 2004 with a stem cell donation. I was allowed to meet him in person in 2006. We have been connected ever since thanks to two exciting vacations spent together and a fantastic friendship.

The e-mail surprised me. Eric asked me to donate a few cells for him again because abnormalities had been ascertained during an examination. It was immediately clear to me that I would help my friend out this time, too. An appointment was quickly scheduled and agreed on with the DKMS – they had also already been informed about the follow-up donation by Eric’s physicians – for the collection in the Clinic of Hameln.


On July 13, 2010, it was time and I headed to Hameln where I was welcomed very cordially. One day before that, my wife also went to the hospital due to a slight irregularity for monitoring purposes. However, we were not seriously concerned about that. Once I arrived in Hameln, I therefore switched my cell phone off.
At the same time, my wife began to bleed very profusely. Stefanie decided to not inform me about that in order to not put the critical donation for Eric at risk. However, her condition subsequently took a dramatic change for the worse.

I had absolutely no idea about any of that. While I was calmly delivering my donation and connected to the machines, the physicians 80 kilometers further south decided to initiate the birth. Our baby was born through a Caesarean section two months ahead of schedule.

After four and a half hours, I had donated enough cells. I was hungry! So I ate lunch in the hospital cafeteria. At this point in time, our daughter had already been alive for three hours and I still knew nothing about it. I left the hospital with the great feeling of having helped Eric and I headed off to my wife. My cell phone was still deactivated. And why not, I was directly on my way to the next clinic after all.

The news there came as a major surprise to me. My daughter was born! An incredibly good feeling, but I was a little bit shocked as well. And I felt so sorry for my wife. I had always wanted to at her side during the birth of our first child. One comfort for Stefanie was that on this hot day in July, both she and I simultaneously gave someone else the chance to live.

I wrote an e-mail to Eric that night, very exhausted and happy, and I told him about this unbelievable day. Later on, he told me that he cried quite a lot when he read it. He was so unimaginably sorry that I was not able to personally witness my daughter’s birth.

Today I know that Eric tolerated the cells I donated well and that he is healthy again. It was a great moment to hear this because our daughter has also finally been allowed to come home to us, her parents, healthy and energetic after a long time in the intensive care unit.

With immediate effect, I’m not the only one who has a close tie with Eric. Later on, our little Lena will always be able to tell the story about her father, who helped another person live a healthy life on the very day that she was born. In any case, I already look forward to introducing her to my British »big brother« very soon."


Axel Drewes