“How a Bride dances with the donor that saved her life.”
Tears at a wedding are inevitable. Watching two people you know and love be joined together forever in pure happiness is bound to bring on emotion. But at the wedding of Greta Perske and Tony Hokanson on 10th October, tears filled the room for other reasons when the bride dances with the donor that saved her life.
Family and friends of the couple were unsure the wedding would ever take place. This being due to that fact that, as a 16-year old high school girl, Greta was diagnosed with Leukaemia in 2007. One day, playing football, she became extremely fatigued, so much so that she was barely playing. This was when she noticed this was more severe than just exercise-induced asthma. By March 2007, she had been given the necessary treatment but her body was not responding. Her name made it onto the marrow transplant list and from then on all she could do was hope to find a match.
Thankfully, via the Be The Match national registry, Greta found a match in 51 year old Danny Daniels. The Arkansas resident had registered due to personal loss some years earlier, causing him and his wife to sign up. He wanted to do what he could to avoid others following the same awful fate his friend did. He found his chance in Greta. Not only did he save her life, he became her inspiration and prompted her to go into nursing as a chance to give back what she had so generously received.
Two years later, Daniels met Greta and her family. He was invited to the wedding that he had helped make possible and received a special announcement from the mother of the bride in which she said ‘Danny, you didn’t just save Greta’s life, you saved all our lives’. Daniels was humbled by this and the standing ovation that followed.
Today, the family remain eternally grateful for Daniels’ selfless act. Greta still keeps in touch with the man that allowed her to fulfill her life.
