Sue Walters only chance of survival from leukaemiawas a stem cell transplant No one in her family matched her tissue type Doctors searched the worldwide donor register They found Nicola Gerber, a student from Mechern, near the French border

By Chloe Lambert for the Daily Mail

Published: 20:21 EST, 17 November 2014 | Updated: 20:35 EST, 17 November 2014

When Sue Walters was diagnosed with leukaemia, she hoped that the best of medical science would be used to cure it.

What she could never have anticipated was that her life would be saved by an 18-year-old boy from a remote German village.

Sues only chance of survival was a stem cell transplant previously known as a bone marrow transplant.

What Nicola has done is amazing it really is a gift of life. If I hadnt had the transplant, it was unlikely Id have lived beyond three months,' said Sue Walters of her donor Nicola Gerber

This would give her a new, stronger immune system to destroy the cancerous cells in her blood.

No one in her family matched her tissue type, so doctors searched the worldwide donor register and found Nicola Gerber, a student from Mechern, near the French border.

He had recently registered as a stem cell donor, and was the perfect match.

Follow this link:
Donor: The German teenager who saved my life: How a global network of stem cell donors found an unlikely saviour for a ...