A world away, lifesaver becomes blood broher
DALLAS: In 2000, after 31 years of robust health, James Chippendale, a wealthy Dallas business executive who had traveled much of the world, was
found to be suffering from a lethal form of leukemia. Chippendale’s doctors told him that his only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant, and that the likelihood of finding a matching donor seemed bleak.
“I was a hard match,” Chippendale said, “and there was nothing for me in the United States. So we had to go on the international registry.”
More than 5,000 miles and a world away, Klaus Kaiser, a man who repairs bicycles in a German village, had unsuccessfully tried to be a marrow donor for a friend with a blood disorder. Each year Kaiser received a form asking if he wanted to continue being listed on the donor registry. And each year he checked the box marked “yes”.
On paper at least, or more accurately on sophisticated medical computer screens, Kaiser’s marrow seemed a perfect match for Chippendale. In November 2000, doctors extracted marrow from Kaiser’s hip bone and flew it 5,214 miles to Dallas, where Chippendale and his medical team waited anxiously at Baylor University Medical Center. The bone marrow transplant was a success, and today, Chippendale said, his doctors tell him he is cancer free.
Two years after the transplant, Kaiser received a telephone call from the donor organization that had found him. “They asked if I wanted to get to know the person who received my bone marrow,” he said. “It made me so happy, because I knew then that it had helped. I didn’t know before.”
A short time later, a letter appeared in Kaiser’s mailbox in Gutter, a town of 150 people west of Berlin. Kaiser did not speak or read English; he did not have to. Chippendale had had a friend translate into German the words he had written to the man who had saved his life.
When the letter arrived, Kaiser said, “it felt like a close family member emerged from somewhere”.
But Chippendale knew that a letter could not begin to express his gratitude. He enrolled in night classes to learn as much German as he could and bought a plane ticket. His arrival in Gutter in early 2003 was cause for a villagewide celebration, with songs and beer lifted high in steins.
“The whole family was there,” Kaiser said, “and we were full of joy when we met James in person. For me, James is my blood brother.”
“After the transplant,” Kaiser said, “the physician thanked me for the donation in the name of mankind. I am very proud of James. He tries to give back to the world what he got from me. I am very happy that we have become such great friends.”
