SILVERTHORNE, Colo. — A Silverthorne woman flew thousands of miles to meet and thank her life-saving hero.
Beth Seeley was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2018. She had about a 10% chance to live and needed stem cells from a donor.
"They came into my hospital room with ashen faces, yes, the look on their faces we knew this was not going to be a good news meeting and they gave us the word that the diagnosis was acute myeloid leukemia," Beth said. "Basically, they said, if you want to survive, you need a bone marrow transplant."
Her donor was found thanks to "Be the Match" who linked Beth with a volunteer firefighter living in Germany named Jan.
Jan had registered in the match's database and donated his stem cells to save Beth's life.
The two eventually met online and Jan even sent Beth a guardian angel while she recovered.
Fast forward a few years, Beth and her husband, Rich, flew to Germany to surprise Jan and meet him face to face.
"They speak German and we speak English, so it will be a bit interesting," Beth said before her trip.
> Video below: Watch Beth and Jan meet for the first time:
With the help of Jan's wife Katrina and fellow volunteer firefighters, Beth and Rich rolled up to Jan's house in a fire truck to say thank you.
"Katerina orchestrated the whole thing with the fire truck and the family was all there," Beth said. "It was magic, and it was a surprise, Jan had no idea what this was all about."
Jan continues to recruit his friends in Germany to sign up for the Be the Match Registry.
Beth said something else happened after the donation. Her blood type changed from O-negative to O-positive. Seeley says she's got an O-positive future now.
"We were bonded so tightly and it’s like they are my family and Richs too," Beth said.
For more information on Be the Match, you can find it on their website.
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