Heroic stem cell donation: Gmünder Benjamin Thor saves lives!

Heroic stem cell donation: Gmünder Benjamin Thor saves lives!

Benjamin Thor from Albrechts extended the life of a man from Germany suffering from leukemia through a courageous stem cell donation. The 33-year-old had already experienced the importance of stem cell donations first hand in 2009, when his sister Julia was diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 15. Despite his best efforts, his sister lost her battle with the disease. The “Giving for Life” association contacted Benjamin in 2018 and invited him to register as a potential donor in a global database. This is an important measure because the probability that siblings are suitable as donors is around 25 percent meinkreis.at reported.

In fall 2021, Thor received the surprising news that he was a candidate for a leukemia patient. After further tests, he was finally able to donate his stem cells to the Vienna General Hospital in January 2022. “I had so many stem cells that I was finished after just over two hours,” said the donor, recalling the uncomplicated process of the donation, which, however, caused him some physical discomfort such as flu-like symptoms. The sad turn of events came later: Benjamin learned that the recipient of his donation, a middle-aged man, died in the spring of 2023. Despite this sad news, Benjamin is proud that his donation allowed him to give the man 15 months of additional life. “Thanks to my donation, he experienced one more Christmas,” says Thor movingly noen.at documented.