Buckeye cancer donor meets donor who saved her life [Video]

BUCKEYE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — Tana Velez was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia in January 2021. Doctors told the 63-year-old Buckeye resident that she would need a blood stem cell transplant to survive.

A few months after being diagnosed, Tana learned she was going to be a grandmother. That’s when she became determined to find a blood stem cell donor. She had a match within a few weeks and underwent the procedure to cure her cancer.

Her donor was a total stranger from Texas. Twenty-three-year-old Graham Cepica received an unexpected call from DKMS, the world’s largest blood stem cell donor center, saying that he was a perfect match for Velez, who is battling blood cancer. He went through the donation to give his stem cells to Velez.

Two months after receiving her transplant, Velez’s granddaughter, Luna, was born, and Velez became a grandparent. Fast forward to today, when Velez finally met the man who …