Three years ago, Alex Talbott got some bad news. He’s a dentist in Joplin, and had always been in good health. But when he couldn’t seem to shake what he thought was the flu, he went to a doctor…and found out he had an aggressive blood cancer. He came to The University of Kansas Cancer Center for chemotherapy. When that initial treatment didn’t change his condition, it was determined he needed a bone marrow transplant. The tricky part is finding someone who’s a match to donate their bone marrow. Alex’s sister was a 50 percent match…not ideal but would do in a pinch.

            Staff members at the cancer center started searching the worldwide donor registry and found a woman in Germany who had responded to a registration drive in her town to help a little boy there. She was a 100% match with Alex. She agreed to the donation, it was shipped to America and after the transplant, Alex began to improve. Now three years later, he’s cancer free and doing great.

            Alex and his wife Jamie were exited to learn that the donor, Sabrina Rohrwild was coming to The United States with her boyfriend for a vacation. They made arrangements to come to Kansas City as their first stop, where Alex and Sabrina met one another in person for the first time. The Talbotts plan to host Sabrina and her boyfriend for a week, which will include a fishing trip in Branson and a Royals game.

            In the video, interviews with Alex and Jamie Talbott talking about Alex’s journey, plus a quick comment from Sabrina, who had been traveling for 24 hours. Video includes the emotional moment when Alex and Sabrina met as she came off the plane.