A Bromley policeman has met the woman whose life he saved after he donated stem cells when she was battling leukaemia.

Dave Anderson met his stem cell recipient Carole Donnelly just over two years after she received the successful transplant in September 2014.

The 30-year-old said it was “amazing” to finally meet the woman who benefitted from his lifesaving donation.

He first joined the Anthony Nolan stem cell register in 2012, after learning that a colleague was in need of a transplant.

Two years later he received a letter telling him he was a potential match for someone else.

Mr Anderson said: “I always remembered that I was on the register, and I had spoken to people about it, but when I received the letter saying that I was a potential match for someone, I couldn’t believe it.”

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Dave Anderson met his stem cell recipient Carole Donnelly.

At the end of March 2014 he donated his stem cells through at outpatient procedure, which is similar to giving blood, at King’s College Hospital.

He said although he felt nervous beforehand, the procedure was easier than he had expected.

A few days later 55-year-old property developer Ms Donnelly, from the Wirral, received the cells.

After first becoming ill in 2013, she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and offered the chance of a transplant through Anthony Nolan.

The charity was able to find her not just one, but three perfect matches.

She said: “It’s difficult to describe what the donation has done for me, but it’s so greatly appreciated – it’s a cliché but it’s given me my life back.”

Following the transplant Mr Anderson got in touch with his recipient with a letter sent through the charity.

Earlier this year he was able to learn the identity of the woman whose life he saved and last month the pair finally met at an Anthony Nolan event to celebrate the annual World Marrow Donor Day.

Talking about the meet up, Mr Anderson said: ‘It was an amazing feeling – we’ve had all this thought and emotion about somebody random who you have no idea who they are, and it’s finally got a face and you have somebody to tether too, and you think – yep, there they are.”

World Marrow Donor Day was organised by the World Marrow Donor Association to celebrate and thank the more than 28 million potential stem cell donors worldwide.

For more information about Anthony Nolan, and to join the stem cell register, visit www.anthonynolan.org