Meet Torsten Huber

Germany

(Jada's donor)

In April 2006 there was a bone marrow registry drive for a woman who had leukemia in my area in the south of Germany.  My girlfriend, Michaela, and I went to register.  There was no match found for her, but all of the people were added to a list as potential donors.

In October 2007 I got a letter telling me that I might be a match.  I had to do further tests to confirm this.  A few weeks later I went to the hospital to donate my bone marrow.  After the procedure I was told that a lawyer went directly to the airport and flew to Seattle with my cells.  There was a little girl waiting there for the donation.  After a few months I got good news; my genetic twin was still alive.

Two years later I wanted to know more about the little girl and applied to get the address of the recipient family.  I was a little nervous when I searched the Jada Bascom Foundation on the internet.  I was happy to read about Jada´s story and that she was well.  Also, I was really impressed with Jeana and her walk across America.  I wrote a short notice in the guestbook on her website.  After several emails and getting to know a little bit more about each other, Jeana invited me to take part in the last miles of her walk in New York City.

In January 2011, I got the chance to meet Jada and her family in New York City.  At 10:00 in the morning on the day of the final walk I met Jeana, Kyle, Jada’s father, and the rest of the family, friends and supporters who had come to walk the last miles with Jeana along Central Park to the Park Central Hotel.  When we arrived at the Park Central Hotel I met Jada and her mother, Issa, the first time.  I was pretty nervous because of giving a few interviews but in the evening we had a chance to get to know each other a little bit more.  Also the next days I was able to spend some more time with Jada and her family.

My personal highlight was while sightseeing in Manhattan on Sunday when Jada came to me, took my hand and we walked hand in hand on the Broadway.

Torsten, Kyle, Jada and Jeana