A rugby player who donated his bone marrow has met the mystery cancer patient whose life he saved.
Samuel Griffiths, a former centre for Maesteg RFC , had an emotional meet-up with grandmother Sally Howard – three-and-a-half years after his donation.
In a 27-million-to-one shot, he was found to be a perfect match for London-based emergency services administrator Sally who had been struck down with leukaemia.
Thanks to Samuel’s donation, Sally is now in full remission and is able to enjoy life to the full.
"He has allowed me to carry on living. It’s something really special," said Sally.
"Since the transplant I have become a grandmother to two beautiful grandsons who I can now see grow up.
"He’s given me the opportunity to do the things that matter in my life."
Sally's leukaemia was spotted "by chance" following a routine blood test with her doctor.
"I had absolutely no symptoms," the 55-year-old said. "So, I'm incredibly fortunate that it was picked up before I became poorly."
She was placed in isolation in University Hospital Lewisham and then underwent two rounds of chemotherapy in a bid to wipe her immune system.
Around the same time, 24-year-old Samuel was encouraged to give blood by his mum, a staff nurse at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.
While there, he was asked if he would also like to go on the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry too.
"I thought I might as well, but they said there was a one in 27 million chance I would ever be a perfect match,” he recalled.
Then in the autumn, he received a letter saying he was one of three people who were potential matches for a patient.
Further blood tests and tests on his general health followed before the procedure on Tuesday, December 15, 2014 at St Joseph’s private hospital in Newport - before sally received donated bone marrow at King’s College Hospital, London.
“I’m the luckiest person alive," she added.
"Many people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) become far more unwell than me, and they can die from a simple infection."
'The moment I met the stranger from the US who donated bone marrow to save my life’
Three years on from the transplant, Sally was given the go-ahead by donation agencies to send Samuel a Christmas card last December.
The pair then managed to exchange contact details and met in a pub London on March 17.
Samuel, who travelled to London with his fiancee Danielle, said: "We just clicked straight away.
"She gave me a massive hug and we spent the next two-and-a-half hours just talking about our lives, our hobbies and the whole donation process. It went so quickly.”
Sally added: "I didn’t know how I was going to react to meeting him. There was some trepidation. How can you say thank-you for a gift like that?
"But it was lovely."
Samuel is now encouraging more young men to sign up to the bone marrow register.
"You could end up changing someone’s life," he said.
“I’m so glad I did it. Sally is now planning to come to Wale on holiday soon, so we’ll definitely meet up again then."
