Regina boy meets woman who made life-saving marrow donation

At just age six, Lincoln Honoway has plenty of living to do, made possible by a bone marrow transplant he received following an aplastic anemia diagnosis three years ago.

He’s cured, healthy and active but had to wait two years — as per donation rules — to find out who to thank for it.

On Saturday at the Regina airport, Lincoln finally met Anne Gallagher, the Colorado woman whose donation saved his life.

“There’s a bridge at the airport and I looked down, and I knew. It was an (enormous) crowd of all of Lincoln’s family,” Gallagher said, describing the scene. “And somebody said, ‘There she is,’ and everybody waved. It was wonderful.”

To Lincoln, Gallagher is one of a kind. When he was first diagnosed with aplastic anemia, which prevented him from producing red and white blood cells or platelets, his three siblings were tested as the most likely candidates for a transplant. They didn’t match.

In all of the world’s bone marrow registries, there was only one person who could make that donation — Gallagher, a teacher from just outside Denver.

For at least a two-year period after the transplant, the two parties could only communicate anonymously. Gallagher received two cards from Lincoln’s mother, Erica, which had to omit details about the recipient, including his sex, age and his condition that made the donation necessary.

But one day, Erica checked her spam folder, finding an email from Gallagher.

“It said, ‘Hi Erica, my name is Anne and I had the privilege of donating stem cells to your son,’ ” Erica said.

“And I just couldn’t believe I was finally talking to the person I dreamt about and thanked a million times in my head … We chatted on the phone that night and we’ve talked probably three or four times a week ever since.”

But when it was time to meet Gallagher in person, Erica was speechless.

“I always thought that by the time we met her, I’d have this special phrase or something I could say that she would actually know and feel how thankful I am. But I didn’t get there, which is OK because I just started crying anyways,” she said.

Despite knowing the odds Lincoln had to beat, Erica doesn’t call her story a miracle — to her it’s just ineffable.

She shared it to raise awareness of the bone marrow registry and also to give hope to families that are going through the same thing.

“When Lincoln was sick, all I wanted to hear about was the happy endings. I didn’t want to hear anything scary. I knew what could happen,” she said.

“They can see this crazy, wild boy that we have now that plays soccer and plays football and loves to bug his sisters. He’s just so full of life and to know that’s what’s at the end of their journey … it just feels so good to share.”