WHEN Ashling Connell met the man who saved her life she found herself utterly lost for words.

Now the 31-year-old from Headington is encouraging others to sign up to become stem cell donors and help give the ultimate gift.

She received a stem cell transplant in 2012, shortly after being diagnosed with late-stage blood cancer, known as acute myeloid leukaemia.

She was just 25 when she was diagnosed and doctors told her that 95 per cent of her cells were cancerous and it was vital they found a donor match to give her the best chance of survival.

After an extensive search, blood cancer charity Anthony Nolan was able to a match – an anonymous 26-year-old from Germany.

Ms Connell, who works in HR, said: “I first decided I wanted to make contact with him the day I found out I had a donor.

“My medical team actually really struggled to find me a match as I have an unusual tissue type, due to mixed heritage in my family generations back.

“One day I was allowed out of hospital for a short while and I was having lunch with my mum by the canal when I got the call to tell me they’d found a great match in Germany.

“I decided then and there that if I made it through transplant and he was willing, I’d love to get to know him.”

In 2014, two years after her transplant, and with recovery going well Ms Connell got a message around Christmas time from Anthony Nolan.

The charity told her that her donor, Jan Rottschäfer, from Flensburg, wanted to get in touch, a revelation that led to her bursting into tears.

After searching for her ‘lifesaver’ on Facebook, she said: “Having a face to put to a name of the person who is the reason I am alive...there are no words to describe how that felt.

“I said ‘thank you’ to him for giving me a chance at life but thank you doesn’t seem enough.

“I was very conscious of not scaring him off by gushing at him in gratitude.”

After being in contact for three years online the pair arranged to finally meet in Dorth, in Germany, at Mr Rottschäfer’s sister’s 30th birthday in late December.

Ms Connell, who travelled over for the trip with her partner Rob Dalton, said: “As we drove to his sister’s house I started to feel a bit sick from nerves.

“He opened the door and we had the biggest hug, it lasted about three minutes.

“Then he cried on me, which set me off too.

“It was very special.

"I said thank you and he said something in German which I didn’t understand, but I think it was ‘you’re welcome’.

“I asked him why he wanted to donate and he said that he was told there was a lady called Ashling who would die without help, and he said he wanted to give someone like me the chance of a future.

“He is very gentle and kind and so happy and smiley.

"Who he is really shines through his face.”

The pair have continued to keep in touch after what Ms Connell described as ‘the trip of a lifetime’.

She has plans to return and has also invited Mr Rottschäfer, now 32, over to the UK.

Anthony Nolan head of register development, Rebecca Pritchard, said: “It’s heart-warming to hear stories like Ashling and Jan’s.

“In 90 per cent of cases, donating stem cells is a simple procedure via the blood but to the person who desperately needs the transplant it is a life-changing moment for them”

To sign up to the stem cell register or for more information visit anthonynolan.org/join