THIS is the heart-warming moment a pensioner met the mum who saved his life with her anonymous stem cell donation after travelling 2,300 miles to thank her in person.

Jackie Wray, 50, met with her genetic twin, Siegfried Siggi Wahl, 71, in September after the pair spent more than three years communicating anonymously due to the laws surrounding stem cell donations.

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Siggi, from Hattersheim in Germany, was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in April 2015 after he had suffered a stroke and doctors found the cancer when he was hospitalised.

After initial treatment proved unsuccessful, doctors told Siggi that his best chance of survival was a blood stem cell donation from a person with identical tissue type.

Luckily, just six months earlier, Siggis genetic twin Jackie, from, had signed up with blood cancer charity DKMS in 2015 after seeing a TV appeal for a child in urgent need of a donor.

And this moving video captures the moment Siggi met his angel Jackie at her home in Great Ayton, Middlesbrough for the first time earlier this year.

Jackie, who runs a wedding venue, said: Six months after being on the donor register, doctors had found a match I knew nothing about him at this stage, just that he was a man in Germany.

During the process, we both wanted to send cards to each other to check that each of us was alright, and I found out more information about him that way.

Jackie explained that donating her stem cells was like giving blood and lasted around four to five hours.

As a courier arrived to escort Jackies blood stem cells from London to Frankfurt, news broke of the 2016 terrorist attack in Paris, France, and the courier was unable to leave the UK.

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As Siggis wife Ursula sat at his bedside, doctors were worried the blood stem cells would not get to Siggi in time.

Dad-of-two Siggi said: The terrorist attack in France that delayed the stem cell courier shocked me and my wife, who was sitting next to my hospital bed with many tears in her eyes.

The next day, when the doctor came into my room, and said that the courier was on his way, and I had tears of joy in my eyes.

After Jackies stem cells finally arrived in Frankfurt , the transplant immediately went ahead.At one stage, Jackie had to donate extra blood plasma to Siggi, where she went through the same process as she did when harvesting the blood stem cells.

The extra donation meant it took them three years before they could finally meet.

This is because UK law states that whilst donors and their patients can communicate following the transplant, it must remain anonymous for at least the first two years.

The day their anonymity was waived, Siggi rang up Jackie straight away after exchanging email addresses, and after a very emotional conversation, the pair arranged to meet for the first time in the UK.

Jackie invited Siggi and his wife Ursula over to her home in Middlesbrough, where they stayed for three nights.

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During the trip, Siggi presented Jackie with a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of an angel, to signify her saving his life.

Jackie said: When he arrived, there were lots of tears and lots of cuddling Siggi and his wife had made me a photo album with pictures of him during his treatment which just made me cry instantly.

Siggi added: For me, she is my angel that saved my life.

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Heart-warming moment OAP meets mum who saved his life with anonymous stem cell donation after three years of - The Sun