By Bjorn Trautwein
Despite the rain: Huge crowds at the typing for Anika (34) from Ludwigsfelde!
They stand outside in the Brandenburg drizzle and then patiently wait inside for a free seat: long before the start of the typing campaign for Anika (34), the first volunteers queued up in front of the Brothers Grimm elementary school in Ludwigsfelde yesterday. A snake that may save her life.
The mother of two (son Leo is 9, daughter Lilly 3 years old) fell ill with leukemia in October and is currently undergoing her second chemotherapy in the hospital. She needs a stem cell donation to continue living, but so far no matching genetic twin has been found in databases around the world.
Mama Anika works in IT at Mercedes-Benz. She is currently building a house with her husband in Ludwigsfelde. Last year she was diagnosed with blood cancer Photo: DKMS
That should change today. Among the first to register from 9 a.m. are Mario Gädicke (51) and Antje Burow (42). They enter their data on a tablet or their own smartphone and then put the cotton swab in their mouth. “It’s easy,” says Antje shortly afterwards.
Son Jona (6) is also sitting at the table: “We have three children ourselves,” says the clerk, “and were very touched by the mother’s fate. That’s why we want to help. It’s just a few minutes and it might save a life.”
Mario Gädicke (51) Antje Burow (42) and son Jona (6) want to save Anika’s life and registered as potential donors Photo: Olaf Selchow
And that’s what many are thinking this morning. After an hour, more than 50 people have already submitted a sample. There are 12 tables in the small school gymnasium.
Ulrike Wegmann (36) came to the registration office with her son. Last week Kristoff (6) had a physical education class here in the gym, now he watches as his mother rubs the chopstick on the inside of her cheek for a minute.
“When you hear about such an illness, you simply have to do something,” she says a little later. “We just read about the death of pole vaulter Tim Lobinger in the news. We must all help to defeat this disease.”
Ulrike Wegmann (36) and son Kristoff (6) first fill in the data on the tablet, then the mother takes a tissue sample with a cotton swab. Kristoff still has to wait. You can only register with the DKMS from the age of 17 and donate from the age of 18 Photo: Olaf Selchow
More than a dozen volunteers are working on this today. They stand at the entrance, explain the process, disinfect the place every time someone has finished registering. At the end, they accept the sticks with the tissue samples. Everyone puts three pieces in a small envelope.
“My son goes to daycare with Anika’s daughter,” says Steffi Baschin (32), who makes sure that the test sticks end up in the right box at the exit of the gym. “It was immediately clear to me that I wanted to do something to help her.” The nurse herself has been registered with the DKMS for 15 years.
There are more than 100 samples after a good two hours. For a donation to be successful, as many tissue characteristics as possible of the recipient and donor must match. Only then are the new stem cells not rejected by the body.
Daycare manager Nicole Böttner (42, right) and Anika’s best friend Patrizia (29) with small thank you gifts that parents and children made. There are sweets in the boxes Photo: Olaf Selchow
“We are totally overwhelmed,” says Patrizia (29), Anika’s colleague and best friend. “It’s just wonderful that so many people are there despite the bad weather and want to save Anika.”
The teacher of Anika’s daughter Lily (3) had the idea for typing. Daycare manager Nicole Böttner (42): “We’ve known mom for a long time, her older son also went to our rainbow children’s home. That’s why we didn’t want to stay idle, we wanted to get active.”
This is also the attitude of Kim (29) and Steffen Selent (35). She works in administration, he is with the volunteer fire brigade, son Bruno (9 months) sleeps in the pram.
Kim (29) and Steffen Selent (35) hope that their registration will make a difference. He has been with the voluntary fire brigade in Ludwigsfelde for 15 years. This action was also called for there Photo: Olaf Selchow
“The call for typing was also shared with the fire brigade,” says Kim, “I just hope that with the registration I can contribute a small part to the rescue.”
Anika herself gets im Ernst von Bergmann Clinic in Potsdam just her second chemotherapy. “But I spoke to her and she’s super excited that this is happening today,” says her friend Patrizia. “She said straight away that she wasn’t just hoping for a donor for herself, but that someone might be found for other people affected.”
In Germany alone, almost 14,000 people contract leukemia every year, and 11.5 million potential donors are registered with the DKMS. In Ludwigsfelde, 188 new possible rescuers were added yesterday.
Among the last is a family who have experienced leukemia themselves. Rebecca-Helena (27) from Buckow was diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 12. “I was saved by my own sister’s stem cell donation,” she says. And she brought it with her right away: Tanja-Natascha (33) had read about Anika’s fate in the BZ and was typed yesterday just like the third sister Scarlett-Tara (29) and husband Marcelo (32).
“I can understand how Anika is doing right now,” says Rebecca, “that’s why it’s so important that as many people as possible register. You don’t know if that might save a life like mine.”
To register, you can also order a test kit to take home and take a swab there yourself. All information about this is available at DMMS.