Sask. man 'forever grateful' for gift of life from German teenager

Bill McDonald and Hannes Brandt were strangers just a few years ago — separated by decades of life and the Atlantic Ocean — but in some ways they're now closer than brothers.

"Hannes is like a son to me," said 72-year-old McDonald from his home in Moose Jaw, Sask., showing off the photo on his phone's home screen of the young man he credits with saving his life. "Probably closer to a grandson."

In November 2017, blood work from a routine doctor's appointment led to the discovery that McDonald's bone marrow was producing abnormal cells. The prescription for his precancerous condition was to find a stem cell donor.

Within a few months, there were four potential donors. 

One of them was Brandt, a teenager in Pinneberg, Germany, who had just celebrated a birthday. He had registered to be a stem cell donor the year before and became eligible to do so when he turned 18.

"I want to help people, I want to give them a new chance to live, and to make their families and themselves happy," he said. "I think the amount of work that I can do to give them a new life is so small, it's worth it."

Brandt got the call a week after his birthday. After further testing, he and McDonald were deemed a match.

Nearly a year after the trip to the doctor where that first test was done, and after a lot of preparation, McDonald got the surgery in November 2018. Seven weeks later, he got an email from his then-anonymous donor.

"First of all, how are you?" the email began. "I hope you feel better now and will feel much better as soon as possible. It was a pleasure for me to hopefully help you."

McDonald and his wife Lynne were happy to hear from Brandt and wrote back, but for two years their emails were screened and any personal information was redacted by Canadian Blood Services. A waiting period is common practice after donations, to allow patients to concentrate on recovery among other reasons.

"We didn't know anything about Hannes or where he was from. We didn't even know if he was a female or male. It was very, very generic. But at least we knew that we were both out there and we definitely wanted to meet someday," McDonald said.

On Boxing Day, 2020, the two were finally able to video chat.

"Lynne and I were so happy we got to meet Hannes, see who he was," said Bill. "We got to meet his family and his girlfriend as well."

"His parents, his grandparents, his sister and his girlfriend were all there," Lynne chimed in. "So we met everybody."

For Brandt, the Facetime meeting was "an unbelievable experience." He said he wanted to know more about the recipient as soon as he knew his stem cells were going to someone else.

"What is he like? Where does he live? And all these questions," Brandt said, now at 21. "I wanted to meet his family and his wife. It was just one big thing for me."

They now plan to get together in person, as pandemic travel restrictions ease.

"Obviously I'm going to be forever grateful," McDonald said. "Hannes is like family and he's very, very special to us."

So is the cause. McDonald wants people to know how easy it is to register as a possible donor.

"All they do is a cheek swab and from that they can collect enough information to get you on the registry," he said.

The return on that small investment could be a life saved, as well as a new member of the family.

"I want to catch the attention of all people to help each other, not just focus on themselves," Brandt said. "Just do it. Help people. Help each other."