SCRANTON, Pa. — Megan Strachan was showing Benjamin Stephan around this past weekend at the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour.
Stephan and his wife are visiting from Germany, but technically, his DNA has been here for a while.
Two years ago, Megan Strachan from Scranton was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. Her doctors told her she would need to receive a stem cell transplant to help battle the disease.
"Because the situation was so serious, they told me I needed to get in like really quickly. We were basically just waiting for the chemotherapy to do its work before getting his cells," Strachan said.
Stephan was that donor.
Twelve years ago, Stephan gave a sample of his DNA and entered the match program. When he got the call that he was a match, he had no idea his cells would travel as far as they did.
"When I donated, they told me they have to get the cells now out, and one hour later, it was on the plane to America," he said.
Because of privacy laws, neither Strachan nor Stephan knew each other. They had to wait two years to connect.
"He sent me a letter and it was all redacted. I couldn't know his information or his name, so I basically just waited for the time limit to be up so that I can reach back out to him through email, and we connected," Strachan said.
And by chance, the timing was right for the two to meet.
Stephan and his wife had their honeymoon planned, to travel to the U.S. and meet the person whose life he changed.
"We planned this trip to go to Boston and New York just to have a nice vacation together. And when she reached out to me, and we saw it was Scranton, and we decided, 'Yeah, let's take a look. It's totally on our way,'" Stephan said.
"We actually share the same DNA now. It's crazy. I was so excited to know that he was coming and that we can meet each other. And just so I can thank him for giving me my life back," Strachan said.
Strachan and Stephan both encourage people to consider becoming a donor because you never know whose life you may save.
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