Life is difficult. The first three words in M. Scott Peck’s classic The Road Less Traveled, which I read in my early twenties, left me feeling both comforted and troubled. Oh, thank God, I’m not the only one going through hard things; this is normal…but oh my God, is life really this hard? As I “grew up”, I learned that despite the challenges of life there are plenty of opportunities to practice gratitude and seek joy and wonder.
I am inspired, and filled with awe, by those who meet challenges and overcome obstacles with resilience, courage, kindness, and positivity. In Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, author Dacher Keltner outlines eight wonders of life that bring us a sense of awe and wonder. Music, nature, spiritual practices, and more influence us, but “we are most likely to feel awe when moved by moral beauty…in fact, it was other people’s courage, kindness, strength, or overcoming” that inspire us most.
This leads me to the story of Regina and Achim—I am inspired by them both. Regina met the challenge of a life-threatening illness with humor, positivity, faith, and courage. Achim showed selfless kindness and generosity by becoming Regina’s lifeline.
Life got difficult for Regina Palmer in 2018, when she was diagnosed with aplastic anemia, an auto-immune disease often treated like leukemia. Although she had originally been diagnosed in 2008, she had been in remission since then. Now, the disease was attacking her bone marrow, causing her body to stop making blood. A bone marrow transplant was required, so the search for a match began. Unfortunately, not one of her six siblings, including a twin sister, was a match. How unlikely this seemed, but not discouraged, Regina appealed to the national bone marrow registry. Meanwhile, she kept styling hair, being a mom, and being hopeful that healing would come.
After the search, there were 31 preliminary matches, but only five that were the most probable matches were contacted. Of those five, three of them went to their doctor to see if they were a full match, and just one of three was eventually approved to be a match for Regina.
The match was Achim, but the only information Regina would receive about her donor is that he was a 54-year-old man who was not from the United States. Their hope lay in this one man and that her body would not reject the new bone marrow. In a Lincoln Journal-Star article, Regina’s husband, Adam said, “She always looks for the best in everything. Her cheery attitude is contagious. She is always very upbeat and happy.”
Grateful, and filled with awe for a stranger’s kindness, Regina prepared for a bone marrow transplant with friends and family supporting and praying for a successful transplant. This stranger would save her life.
“Awe is almost always nearby, and is a pathway to healing and growing in the face of the losses and traumas that are a part of life.” -Dacher Keltner
Regina’s bone marrow transplant was a success and after 3 years, she was able to learn the name of the stranger, who through his act of kindness and generosity, donated his stem cells. His name is Achim Krause of Heinebach, Germany. The story of Regina’s bone marrow transplant has brought both huge smiles and tears to my eyes, especially since Regina traveled to Germany with her family to meet Achim and his family.
You can see and feel the joy and deep connection they share. The local newspaper shared their story (if you read German! or there is a translation below.)
Regina and Achim’s goal is to encourage everyone to join the bone marrow registry at bethematch.org after reading their story. The registry saved her life by finding a match a continent away.
Wonder and awe inspired by moral beauty include experiences of others’ kindness, courage, strength, or inspiring stories of overcoming obstacles. Experiencing awe reminds us that we are not alone during the hard times of our life and that we are surrounded by something larger, both the Divine and others. Regina, Achim, their families and friends, and all who read their story cannot help but be filled with awe.
“Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friend.” -John 15:13
Translation of article:
Palmer of Lincoln, Nebraska fought against death. Only a suitable stem cell donation could save her life in 2019 which was attached by a serious blood disease. Together with her family, the mother of two feared finding a suitable donor. But not even my twin sister’s genetic information matched, says the now 39-year-old.
Achim Krause registered with the DKMS during a typing campaign for a seriously ill Heinebacher in December 2017. “Unfortunately, no donor could be found at the time,” he says. That’s why it’s important to him that the people who started a big typing for their former classmates know that the campaign saved a life. “It should show them that the effort was still worthwhile,” says Krause. At the time, Sonja Hohn was in change of organizing the campaign. Meanwhile, in January of 2019 the phone rang for unsuspecting Achim Krause in Heinebach. The non-profit organization DKMS was on the phone. I was totally surprised when I got the call asking if I would be willing to donate stem cells. “But I didn’t think about doing it.” Says the 59-year-old. “I immediately agreed to the donation and donation my stem cells a month later.”
Now more than four years later, the blood siblings met in person for the first time in Heinebach. “We fell into each other’s arms right away, hugged each other very tightly for at least two minutes and we shed a lot of tears.” Says Regina Palmer, who recovered from the illness thanks to the cell donation by Krause. To express her infinite gratitude and to get to know her lifesaver, she traveled from her hometown in the US state of Nebraska to Heinebach with her children, parents and her husband on Monday. “It was a very special and emotional moment when we met for the first time,” says donor Achim Krause The two have been in contact by email for a year.
Since the donation on February 26, 2019, the fun-loving American has celebrated her second birthday on that day, as she explains. “Actually, my birthday is in August. Now I celebrate in February and Aust,” she laughs. For the past three years, she has written letters to Krause on February 26 so that she can now hand them over to him personally in a folder. “Letters from her entire family were also given to me”, the Heinebach native marvels and is overwhelmed that the thoughts from the family’s difficult times that are not gone.
The blood siblings were already joking on the second day after they met, as they had been friends for years. “This is probably also due to that a part of him lives on in me,” says Regina Palmer. “Well, then we should try out whether you can now play the piano and trumpet,” Krause says laughing, who likes to make music in his free time and is the choir director of the Christian community in Alheim.
In the next few days, Regina and her family will continue to Nuremberg, Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle. After that, the newly won life is still seeing Switzerland and France. But I’m sure that Heinebach will be the loveliest of all places,” says Regina Palmer, beaming.
Being Benedictine 
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