Canadian woman's life saved by British man's stem cell donation
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A Canadian woman, close to dying from leukemia, recently met up with the British man who saved her life.
Jennifer Breckenridge was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 49. Less than a year later, doctors told her she was also dealing with acute myeloid leukemia.
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After being told her family was not a stem cell match, a global search eventually identified Lee Taylor, of Bispham, England, as a donor thousands of kilometres away.
“It’s amazing to think that I have literally been able to save someone’s life, a lady halfway across the world whom I didn’t even know but who was sadly just two weeks away from dying,” Taylor, a father of three, told the Blackpool Gazette.
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Taylor was giving blood one day when he registered as a potential donor and forgot about it.
However, the former military serviceman was told he was a match and promptly donated via peripheral blood stem cell collection in London in December 2022.
Breckenridge, now 53, began her recovery and is now in remission more than two years later.
Breckenridge said meeting with Taylor for the first time was indescribable.
“Just an incredible moment that I will never forget,” she told ITV News.
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Breckinridge, who is now retired and travelling the world, said they have a connection “that can never be broken.”
Leukemia patients don’t always find a match. Doctors gave her a 40% chance at survival.
“Since her recovery, she has been able to enjoy Christmases and birthdays she would never have seen and travelled to Europe for the first time in her life,” Taylor said.
He said it was an “emotional” moment in April when they first met up in London.
“She started to cry and then I began to well up,” Taylor said, adding they also saw each other in Manchester.
“I can definitely say it was emotional.”
Breckenridge said they speak to each other every day on the phone.
“I would recommend anyone to do this,” Taylor said. “It just took four-and-a-half hours lying on a bed, with a needle in my arm. For the sake of four hours, donating is nothing – she’s gone through so much more.”
With free time on her hands, Breckinridge is volunteering for the Canadian stem cell registry and raising awareness for people to donate so more lives can be saved.
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