He’s not his identical or non-identical twin, but the young German considers himself Dominic LeBlanc’s genetic twin since he gave his stem cells to him. Everything separates them: age, distance and even personality. However, he and the minister now feel a lifelong connection. We tell you their story.
They have saved their lives for me and I will thank them for their greatness forever. meaning in French: You saved my life and I will always be grateful for your kindness.. These are the first words of a letter Dominic LeBlanc wrote to his stem cell donor.
The minister suffered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a blood cancer that scared him the worst.
She had to wait two years after her transplant to find out the identity of her donor. One detail immediately dawned on him: his young age.
” It came in an email from the hospital. His name and address are there. What surprised me was the date of his birth. He was born in 2000. When he donated his stem cells, he was almost 20 years old. “
This young man is Jonathan Kehl. He lives with his parents in Bad Hersfeld, a small town in Germany.
There, everyone the family is worried. Who is this mysterious receiver? But most of all, is he still alive?
When the good news came, Jonathan said his mother immediately searched the Internet for Dominic LeBlanc’s name.
” I thought it was useless, but he told me that he had a dedicated article on Wikipedia and that he was a Canadian minister. It completely distracted me. Amazing. “
A perfectly matching profile
This whole story began, for him, with an almost incredible gesture: registering with the donor bank. In 2018, there was a campaign at my school. Students aged 16 to 18. Like almost everyone, I signed up by providing a sample of my DNA.
Dr. Sylvie Lachance, of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital Transplant Program in Montreal, selected Jonathan’s profile from the German stem cell donor bank.
It was perfectly compatible with his patient.
When you are Canadian, you often turn to Canadian and American donors, or often to European donors. Among European donors, the German bank of unrelated donors is appalling for the depth of its typing.
In the case of Dominic LeBlanc, the hardest thing was not to identify a donor, but to manage to control his disease, very aggressively, so that he could undergo a transplant.
Minister LeBlanc recalled that in the spring of 2019, he was afraid to look at himself in the bathroom mirror of his hospital room in Moncton. My eyes are completely yellow. Lymphoma affected his liver.
He said Moncton doctors have never faced a case like his. The type of blood cancer I have is very rare so there is not very much clinical testing on what type of chemo to give. Doctors in Moncton, with the help of doctors in Montreal, literally tried to find a recipe.
Dr. believes. Lachance Dominic LeBlanc had a narrow escape.
” You could tell his life was in danger. We had a window of opportunity in which the pain responded. “
Meanwhile, in Germany, Jonathan had to prepare for the swab. Within a few days, he had to inject himself with a drug that stimulated the amount of stem cells in his blood, he who was nevertheless afraid of needles!
What somewhat worried his mother. We are always worried about our children, he says. But Jonathan’s promise is never in question, because a life is at stake.
And even without knowing what his stem cells were for, Jonathan already felt partly responsible for the welfare of the recipient, his future. genetic twins.
Now they are both bound for life. It’s even saying nothing, according to Dominic LeBlanc.
” Of course we will be together forever. He made an extraordinary gesture that gave me a second life. “
With advances in transplant techniques, it is easier than ever to identify a donor. But Dr. remains. Lacance fascinated that someone has agreed to give to a complete stranger and I always say that it comforts us, it reconciles us to human nature.
Source: Radio-Canada
