STEM CELL DONOR AND
THE silver letter S hanging from the neck of little leukaemia patient Skylah shines with meaning.
Because that S stands not just for name, but also for Samantha ... and for saviour.
Brave Samantha Perry donated the stem cells that saved the life of Skylah Ballentine-Brain, then three years old.
Now, five years later, the pair have finally met – the little girl who was staring death in the face and the guardian angel she calls “my second mummy”.
Skylah, now eight, gave Samantha, 44, a big bouquet of pink roses as they shared a huge hug. And she gave Skylah a teddy and the necklace with a letter S.
The tot was just two when her leukaemia was diagnosed. And her tissue type was so rare that her doctors at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital feared they would never find a match.
Skylah said: “I knew that an angel had helped me to get better when I was ill and I knew that she must be very kind.
“When I met her I knew I was right because she is very beautiful and very kind too.”
BEAUTIFUL
Her mother Zelease, 40, added: “I thought about the angel who donated their stem cells to Skylah every single day.
“Then actually meeting her in person was amazing. Samantha is such a beautiful and wonderful person.”
And Samantha said: “Meeting Skylah was wonderful. Skylah and I share the same blood and I feel a very close connection with her.
“For all of us it felt like the final piece in the puzzle, the final part of this long and gruelling journey.
“I felt really honoured that they called me Skylah’s ‘guardian angel’ and ‘second mummy’.
“One day you get the phone call saying you’re a match and you just feel great because you know you could save somebody’s life.”
Mum-of-two Samantha, from Wickersley, South Yorks, became a donor after she lost a close relative to leukaemia.
Her healthy blood cells saved Skylah, who was dying from the same disease.
The transplant was in May 2013 and the following Christmas Zelease and husband Matthew, an operations manager, sent their child’s anonymous saviour a Christmas card bearing an embossed angel.
It read: “Dear Donor, On the front of this card is an image we want you to see.
“We believe that this is what you are to us – our angel who helped save our daughter’s life.”
Full contact is only permitted after two years when it has become clear whether a transplant has been a success.
The Christmas card was passed on by the Anthony Nolan charity and by 2015 the family, from Solihull, West Mids, were able to