Nuremberg: firefighter becomes a lifesaver

After DKMS registration: a fire fighter from Nuremberg saves a life. Because he wanted to help a person in need, Dieter Lambing registered around three years ago for a fire brigade’s DKMS campaign. “I wanted to do a good deed,” says the volunteer fire brigade man.

Lambing has now been selected as the stem cell donor – and has thus become a lifesaver.

Surprising call: a fire fighter from Nuremberg can donate stem cells

Years after his registration, Lambing suddenly got a call. He is eligible as a donor. “I didn’t expect that, it came as a surprise,” he says. Still, he didn’t have to think about his answer. “It was immediately clear to me that I would donate,” he says. “There is a person who needs help, who is sick. If I can help, I want to do it.”

About two to three months passed between the call and the donation. “Corona has shifted everything because they didn’t have any staff in the hospital to make the donation,” says Lambing. He hardly had any worries. He himself asked whether there might be complications with the donation, but these concerns were quickly taken away during the conversation.

In a preliminary examination, blood was drawn again to see whether he was healthy. He was only allowed to make the donation at another appointment. He did not prepare for it. “I just let it all come my way.”

Only lasted about three hours: This is how the donation worked

In fact, the process went smoothly. Lambing is one of the 80 percent of donors whose stem cells are removed from the blood using a dialysis-like procedure known as apheresis. DKMS explains the procedure as follows: “The donor is given the growth factor G-CSF over a period of five days. This drug increases the number of stem cells in the peripheral blood.” The stem cells are then simply taken directly from the blood.

“It took me about three hours,” says Lambing. “I occupied myself a little with my cell phone and slept. Time actually went by relatively quickly.”

Due to the corona, he was not allowed to bring someone with him. Nevertheless, he did not feel left alone. “The staff was very nice and looked after them well. I felt comfortable there.” After the donation, he was provided with food and drink and could then go straight home.

Stem cell donor: “I would do that again anytime”

“Afterwards I was a little weak and felt tired, but I didn’t have any pain,” recalls Lambing. “I feel good when I think about the donation. I have a clear conscience and I’m glad I did it. I would do it again anytime.” For data protection reasons, he is only allowed to contact the patient to whom he has donated stem cells after two years. He doesn’t know anything about this person yet. After the deadline, however, he would like to get to know her.

“Every 27 seconds, somewhere in the world, someone is diagnosed with blood cancer,” explains DKMS. Often only a stem cell donation helps in this case. But it cannot be given by everyone. “Genetic twin” is the phrase that is used a lot in this context, as data matches are very rare.

Interested parties can register as a donor order a set home. Tissue samples are taken by swabbing the cheek with a cotton swab. If a match is found with the tissue characteristics of a leukemia patient, a donor can be found.

The fire brigade is also organizing a DKMS registration campaign in Obertrubach (Forchheim district). They want to save the life of their comrade Martin, who has acute leukemia.

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