44-year-old Clare Montgomery met with Rune Dinsen, 57, in Glasgow in July, reuniting seven years after a life-saving stem cell donation.
Clare Montgomery and Rune Dinsen (Image: DKMS/Daily Record)
A mum from Bellshill has been able to meet a dad-of-three from Denmark after she saved his life by donating him her stem cells. 44-year-old Clare Montgomery met with Rune Dinsen, 57, in Glasgow in July, reuniting seven years after the life-saving transplant.
Clare was at work in 2017 when she received a phone call from charity DKMS to tell her the organisation had found a match with Rune, who was battling a rare type of lymphatic cancer at the time, the Daily Record reports. The selfless mum went on to donate her cells to the dad-of-three on Valentine’s Day the following year.
After Rune was told the disease was in remission, the pair were able to meet up to enjoy a day out together in July.
Clare said: “I was sitting at my desk in our Glasgow office when I got the phone call about donation, saying I could be a potential match. I didn’t really think twice, I said yes straight away.
“It doesn’t even really feel like yesterday when the procedure was done. It was surreal to meet Rune. It felt really wonderful to see him happy and healthy, and most importantly being able to be there for his three kids.”
Rune said: “I went through several hard chemo treatments but the cancer kept coming back. Luckily Clare showed up as a match for me quite fast. I have now been cancer free since August 2018.
Clare donating her stem cells in 2018(Image: DKMS/Daily Record)
Clare signed up to the stem cell register in 2016 after reading about three-year-old Ava Todd’s fight with inherited bone marrow failure.
At the time, the youngster from Fife relied on blood and platelet transfusions to stay alive while waiting for a donor. After a global search for a match, Juleena Masters, who lives in Oklahoma, became Ava’s hero.
The Record’s front page appeal prompted more than 83,000 people to join the stem cell register before Juleena, 47, went on to become Ava’s match. Among the tens of thousands to sign up was Clare, who saw a striking resemblance between Ava and her own daughter, Eva.
Clare said: “I remember reading little Ava’s story in the Daily Record. It was funny because there were so many similarities between her and my own daughter – they’re both the same age and even have similar names.
“It spurred me on to sign up – if you were the mum of a child who needed a donation, you want somebody else to do it, don’t you? I signed up to DKMS online, got the little swab kit and sent it off.”
Last month, brave Ava celebrated her ninth stem cell transplant anniversary. Ava, now 12, is enjoying school and is able to live to its fullest.
Making her own appeal for donors, Claire added: “I loved reading the story about Ava’s nine-year transplant anniversary, it brought a wee tear to my eye. You feel caught up in their story when it leads to some big thing in your life.
“If you’re healthy enough to donate, please do it. It feels amazing to be able to help somebody this way and give them a second chance. Sometimes you see people who have got cancer and there’s nothing that you can do but in the case with stem cell donation, you can make a real difference.
“It shows the best of humanity doing something like donating for a total stranger. Rune and I stay in touch and whenever Scotland and Denmark play football, we have a good laugh.”
Rune said: “Stem cell donation has given me the chance to watch my three boys grow up and today, we have a very strong bond.
“I would say that this is a unique opportunity to help critically ill people survive with a fairly small effort. You might even get a chance to meet who you help.”
Anyone who is relatively healthy and aged 16 to 55 can sign up to the bone marrow donor register.
For more details, visit anthonynolan.org or dkms.org.uk/en.