German Woman Donating Marrow To US Navy Seal

[Annie]

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/german-woman-to-rescue-american-navy-seal.htm

About six weeks ago, Matt from Blackfive.net called about a Navy SEAL named Justin who had been diagnosed with leukemia. Justin’s life likely could be saved with a bone marrow transplant, and with a giant database of willing donors, Justin’s chances might have looked promising. Yet when Justin was tested, it turned out he carried an uncommon trait called the Philadelphia chromosome. Doctors said his chances of finding a match were about 1 in 25,000, and therefore his chances of survival were grim. That is…until groups like Soldiers Angels and Blackfive got involved and called for a blogstorm.

I recall talking with Matt about six weeks ago when one of us said, “If anybody can save him, it’s us,” meaning the blogosphere. Matt got tested, but it turns out I’ve been to too many malarial countries to qualify. Fortunately, many others did, and just the other night, Matt phoned with fantastic news. A donor had been found. A perfect match. But not just one donor, there were three perfect matches! Interestingly, when Justin fell sick and his condition radiated into a blogstorm, raising awareness of the marrow-donor issue, he may have saved many lives. All those donor-drives that were initiated on his behalf have the potential to save many lives.

The primary donor is a 30 year-old German woman. Over the past couple of years, I have heard countless stories about Germans who visit our wounded service members as they pass through the U.S. Army’s Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl. The United States and Germany may have exchanged sharp words over the course of this war, but it is important to take public notice of the many Germans who help Americans regardless what they think of our government, including this German woman who will donate some of her life-force to save Justin. (Wir bedanken uns bie Deutschland.)

 

[Hobbit]

Most German citizens love Americans. During the Cold War, my uncle was stationed in West Germany (he was one of the alert units that could be in the field in under 6 hours). He was treated to many a hot meal by German citizens who claimed that they would have starved to death in the late 40s had it not been for the Marshall Plan, the plan initiated by George C. Marshall to demilitarize and rebuild war-torn Europe rather than punish Germany and leave everyone else out in the cold. The East Germans love us for being the catalyst that caused the fall of the wall. No matter what the German politicians think of us, the German people are our allies.

This is just another in a string of incidences I've seen that warms the heart to the people of Germany.