Anthony Nolan

“I couldn’t believe I was actually going to meet the person who literally gave something that meant Miles could survive, and then to find out that he’s at my workplace!? We would have passed each other so many times without knowing we were connected.” When Miles received his stem cell transplant aged just one, after being diagnosed with Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome, his parents Helen and David had no idea that the stranger that saved their son’s life was working at the same place as David! Helen reflects on the moment they found out. “All we knew about Miles’ donor was that he was a male in the UK. We’d wanted to get in touch with him for so long, so after the two years anonymity period, we contacted Anthony Nolan to ask for his contact details. We pretty much got his details the same day, and immediately looked him up on Facebook. I saw some of his posts, and thought ‘Does he work at the same place as David?’ – It turned out that he did!” David arranged to meet Jake, Miles’ donor, at work for a coffee, before later introducing him to Miles, who just happened to be at the onsite nursery that day. “It was crazy. You’ve got so many feelings before you meet - you don’t know what they’re going to be like so there’s a bit of apprehension, and all you want to say is ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’ for an hour! but obviously you can’t do that, so it’s basically just having a normal conversation with a guy... it’s just so surreal.” Both families have now become close friends, enjoying dog walks and Sunday roasts together. And most importantly, Miles loves Jake! “He calls Jake his doctor, because he doesn’t quite understand yet. It’s been so amazing to meet him, and he’ll be part of our loves forever now – he’s agreed to be Miles’ godfather. He’s so humble about it, but to us he saved Miles’ life, and I don’t know how we’re ever going to thank him enough. He gave us everything that day, absolutely everything."