Texas teen meets bone marrow donor who helped her beat leukemia

Tim Metken refuses to call himself a hero. Batman was his childhood favorite, but even without a mask, cape or supercar, he still saved a stranger's life through a bone marrow donation.

"Like, the realization just washed over me," said 17‑year‑old Ka'Lyn "KK" Sigler of Tyler. "This man saved my life! And he deserves the biggest hug you can ever get!"

The high school senior is a stranger to Metken no more. Amid hugs and gifts, her mother wiped away tears - the kind that come from nearly losing a child.

"The day that they sat us down and said, 'KK is going to die from leukemia,'" Ilasheika Washington said, "it was... jaw-dropping. I didn't know what to say."

A diagnosis that changed everything

At 15, KK was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, an aggressive blood and bone marrow cancer. When the disease resisted chemotherapy, her care team recommended a bone marrow transplant.

"Sometimes chemotherapy alone can get rid of the leukemia," said Tiffany Simms‑Waldrip, MD, a pediatric hematologist‑oncologist with Children's Health and a clinical associate professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. "But when it doesn't, you just need stronger chemotherapy, potentially radiation... and then at that point they need new bone marrow."

A donor who didn't hesitate

Metken, now living in Denver, signed up to be a donor in college.

"They swab your cheek... and then you don't really think about it for a long time," he said.

But when the call came, he remembered immediately.

"It was very exciting," Metken said. "And... humbling. I'm just a regular guy that, you know, had the right match for someone."

A mother's gratitude, years later

Washington still struggles to put her gratitude into words.

"You don't know what to say to him. You know? 'Thank you' is not enough. So grateful," she said, fighting back tears. 

She remembers the moments when her daughter nearly slipped away.

"You know, you're sitting right there talking to her, and she codes right in front of you," she said.

Two years later, KK is "happy and healthy," her mother said - a transformation that still overwhelms her care team.

"When you actually get to see someone go through what they went through and persevere and survive and then finally get to meet that person that helped them, I think that just makes everything worthwhile," Dr. Simms‑Waldrip said.

A meeting filled with gratitude

KK wasn't sure what she'd say when she finally met Metken. But between the smiles and hugs, she found the words.

"Thank you... I am extremely grateful that God sent you to me. Because I know without you, I would probably be dead by now."

Metken admits the moment hit him hard.

"Yeah. That was a great feeling," he said. "And she's so energetic and young... she was telling me about her plans for the future. Yeah, that's just so cool."