;Resize=(1200,627)&impolicy=perceptual&quality=mediumHigh&hash=d93fa38f26b0b9e800e67293f32fa08613797786b003d0554b0c89ecd07feb6a "Cancer patient as a toddler – now Annabel meets her lifesaver")
When Annabel and Fabian Danker finally face each other, nothing happens for a while. No big hello, no rushing together – it seems as if both of them have to digest who is standing in front of them. Shy and from a distance, the four-year-old looks at her lifesaver, who is embarrassed and holding his hands behind his back, fighting back tears. “Finally a face for it,” says the 38-year-old. Then the tension eases. Annabel’s mother Anne Rogotzki runs up to Fabian Danker and hugs him tightly.
Annabel and her parents Anne and Marc Rogotzki had to wait two years before they could meet the man who donated the life-saving stem cells to their daughter for the first time on a summer’s day in July. The German Bone Marrow Foundation (DKMS), which distributes stem cells all over the world, stipulates a period of anonymity of at least two years. The meeting takes place in an unusual place: Bellevue Palace, the official residence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Annabel’s father works for the Federal President’s Office. Steinmeier’s wife Elke Büdenbender touched the fate of the family and was there when they met in the castle.
Getting to know each other was “moving”
It is difficult for her to put into words the gratitude she feels, says Anne Rogotzki shortly after the meeting, trying to hold back her tears. She and her husband quickly rejected the idea of bringing flowers: it would not do justice to what Fabian Danker did for her and her family. Finally getting to know each other was “super nice, great, moving”. The family had been in contact by phone and chat since May.
Fabian Danker can hardly express his feelings. “I was very excited beforehand,” he says. He is very happy to meet Annabel and her parents, who now have a second daughter, and to see how well Annabel is doing. The girl is extremely lively. The four-year-old flirts with those present, laughs a lot and does gymnastics. “I can already do a somersault,” she says proudly, showing it on the perfectly mowed lawn of the castle.
Annabel suffered from leukemia when she was 15 months old
But things didn’t go as well for the girl for a long time as they do today. Annabel, who lives with her family in Berlin, was diagnosed with leukemia in autumn 2020 when she was just 15 months old. It quickly turned out that she was dependent on a stem cell donation. In a global search, Fabian Danker, who lives in Siegerland with his pregnant wife, was identified as a suitable match.
After being contacted by the DKMS, Dancker agreed to a donation. Five months after the cancer diagnosis, Annabel received the saving stem cell donation. “It’s yours,” says Anne Rogotzki with a laugh to Fabian Danker and points to a photo of Annabel receiving the saving transfusion of stem cells.
“I’m moved to tears every time”
According to the DKMS, around 700 children in Germany receive a blood cancer diagnosis every year. According to the information, around 19,500 people in Germany die of the disease every year. The transfer of healthy blood cells is often the only chance of survival. However, the search for a suitable donor is difficult and, according to the DKMS, is like “looking for a needle in a haystack”. Because in order to find the right “match”, the tissue characteristics – so-called HLA characteristics – on the surface of the body cells must be as identical as possible. However, the HLA characteristics have more than 30,000 variants and can occur in millions upon millions of different combinations.
According to its own information, DKMS mediated 7,700 donations worldwide last year, 5,400 of the donors came from Germany. More than 7.5 million people are registered as stem cell donors. When donors and recipients decide to meet in person after a successful donation, it is always a very special moment, said DKMS Managing Director Elke New Year. “I’m moved to tears every time.” Some encounters have resulted in lifelong friendships, even a marriage has arisen from the relationship between a donor and a recipient.
Fabian Danker is happy to have registered as a donor more than ten years ago. “It’s a small thing to register as a donor that has a big effect.” He now has to let the emotional encounter with Annabel and her family sink in. At Bellevue Palace, the two approached cautiously and played ball on the lawn. He does not yet know what will happen after the first meeting. But he emphasizes: “We’ll definitely stay in touch.”