Girl With Leukemia To Meet Stem Cell Donor Who Helped Save Her Life
CHICAGO (CBS) -- More than four years after she was close to dying from leukemia, an 8-year-old girl from Mount Prospect is healthy again, and will meet the German man who helped save her life by supplying a stem cell donation.
Sabrina Chahir was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009, and 80 percent of her blood was filled with cancer cells. To survive, she needed a stem cell/bone marrow transplant, but finding a donor was going to be very difficult.
"At the beginning, it was we didn't know if we were able to find one, because Sabrina is half Arabic and half Hispanic, and that is not a usual combination," Sabrina's mother, Natalia Wehr said.
Sabrina's DNA match turned out to be 30-year-old Maximilian Eule, a German supermarket manager living in Austria. He quickly agreed to donate
"For me, I was close to crying, because it was like a little girl who was almost close to dying, and has no chance without my blood," he said. "You give the girl another chance to stay alive."
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Sabrina's mother said, thanks to Eule's bone marrow donation, her daughter is healthy again, and like any other 2nd grade girl.
"This whole thing is like a dream," she said.
Eule said it's awesome Sabrina is now happy, healthy, and taking ballet classes and piano lessons. The two will meet for the first time Thursday night.
