German donor helps Lincoln woman beat rare disease

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) For one Lincoln mom, laughing is the best medicine. It's been a long road to recovery for Regina Palmer. But she beat her rare disease thanks to a stranger in Germany who you would say is now family.

Regina is an aplastic anemia survivor thanks to Achim Krause, a banker from Germany who banked his bone marrow and saved her life.

"Obviously him saving my life is the most incredible thing," Regina said. "But that he turned out to be the person he is, and his family are the people they are, is huge bonus points."

In 2008, Regina was first diagnosed with aplastic anemia, after the birth of her first child.

Aplastic anemia is a rare but serious blood condition that occurs when your bone marrow cannot make enough new blood cells for your body to work normally. It can develop quickly or slowly, and it can be mild or serious. For Regina, it was serious.

At that time, doing a bone marrow transplant was most successful if you did it within your own family.

"Five of my siblings matched each other, and I am a different type, and my older brother is a different type," Regina said. "So we decided to not do a transplant because doing an unrelated donor at that time was too risky."

Instead, Regina did a series of drug treatments in the hospital. At that point, her counts came back, and she thought she was cured. They had a second child. Fast forward to 2018. The day before Thanksgiving, she was feeling tired and weak again.

"They drew blood work again, and it was back, "Regina said.

Her doctor sent her to the Buffett Cancer Center in Omaha for further treatment. It was recommended that a transplant needed to happen.

"They went to the national bone marrow registry, and no one in the United States was a match," Regina said.

Doctors decided to go international, and three people were preliminary matches, but the first two came back not a complete match.

"At that point, we were all starting to get a little worried," Regina said. "We were living off of blood transfusions, and I was getting a blood transfusion roughly every three days."

Thankfully, the final person on the international registry was a match. That was Achim from Germany. And after a few years, Regina could finally learn more. She emailed her donor.

"Seeing his name come across as a response in my email was...a lot of emotions came over me" Regina said. "When we went to his home, in the village of Heinebach, that was my very first time hearing his voice, seeing his face, again a very emotional moment."

And now, Achim and his family came to visit Regina's family in Lincoln. And the constant laughing continued. They toured the Buffett Cancer Center, attended a Pius football game, and visited the Nebraska Capitol. Achim even had to get ready for this interview!

"Yesterday she told me she said, be cool, it's only a TV interview, for you," Achim said. "I had a good sleep."

And Regina, a hairstylist made sure he was ready!

"I got a fresh haircut from Regina...yes, yes," Achim said.

A casual time for two families to spend together, expressing gratitude for a life saved, and a new family formed through a selfless act.

"It's not only the match of our blood, it's a match of our families," Achim said.

Regina has been in remission for five years now. She encourages others to donate to the bone marrow registry, give blood and help save a life like hers.