- At 15 years old, our next guest received
a life-saving bone marrow transplant
from a complete stranger and nearly ten years later,
She honored that stranger with this special dance
at her wedding.
[Alabama's "Angels Among Us" playing]
- I was walking home from school,
on a cold winter day.
Took a shortcut through the woods,
and I lost my way.
It was getting late,
and I was scared and alone.
But then a kind old man
took my hand, and led me home.
[singing] Mama couldn't see him,
but he was standing there
And I knew in my heart,
he was the answer to my prayers
- Please welcome Greta Hokanson and the man that saved her life,
Danny Daniels.
Explain why you needed that bone marrow transplant.
So it started at Summer soccer practices.
I just couldn't keep up with the girls,
and then Fall, two a day soccer practices started,
and same thing, I just couldn't keep up with them, so I--
- Just your energy level. - Yeah, energy level, and runs,
and that kind of a thing, and so I woke up one morning
with a really sore throat.
So my mom said, "Let's go to the doctor,"
thinking, "Oh, strep throat. Worst case, mono."
And the results came back with a leukemia diagnosis.
So the treatment for that at the time
was a oral chemo drug.
I had CML, so it was a different type of leukemia...
- Mm-hmm. - For my age,
so treatment at the time was that oral chemo,
but I wasn't tolerating it well,
and after a second and third opinion,
my best chance of survival was
to have a bone marrow transplant.
And so I had two older sisters who didn't match me.
So then they checked the national bone marrow registry
called "Be The Match" and found a perfect match for me,
and that gentleman is sitting next to me.
- Okay, so you were in the registry.
- Yeah. [applause]
- And why were you in the registry already?
- A friend of mine when I was in the military was sick,
and needed a bone marrow transplant.
So a bunch of us at the base signed up,
and unfortunately, he passed before they could
find a donor for him, but, you know,
that was ten years ago,
and I totally forgot about signing up,
and one day out of the blue, I get a phone call
that I'm a match for a 15-year-old female
with leukemia,
and wanted to know if I was willing to go ahead and donate
As soon as I found out she was 15,
how can you not give a young person a chance?
- Wow.
So, first of all,
that's amazing, and especially that you forgot about it even,
and you get a call out of the blue.
And I think most people would think
that it would be a painful thing to give bone marrow.
Is it--is it not--is it something that is not that--
- It's not really. It was--it was pretty quick.
They actually pulled the marrow out of my hip bones.
- Uh-huh. - And I was on light duty...
- Uh-huh. - For about six weeks or so.
- Uh-huh. - And that was it.
- Well, good for you. Okay, so fast-forward ten years now.
You're getting married, and did you all along know,
like, "When I get married someday,
I'm gonna invite him and dance with him at my wedding?"
- So absolutely I wanted to invite him and his wife.
We had met two years after my transplant,
and just an amazing man, amazing wife.
And so when we were making our wedding list,
you know, at the top of the list, Danny and Angie.
We have to invite them,
but really didn't think they would be able to make it.
And so we got the RSVP back that they said yes.
and my jaw just dropped to the floor.
But the dance came later when we were talking with the DJ
and planning our night, he suggested that,
'cause I wanted to honor Danny someway.
So he said, "Why don't you do a dance?"
And I said, "I love that idea. That's great."
So we did "Angels Among Us" by Alabama.
- So that must have just been so moving for you
to dance with her at her wedding.
- Oh, it was such a thrill, and I was totally honored
to even have the opportunity to even get an invite
to the wedding, and then be able to show up was fantastic.
- Really, really sweet. I love that story.
Okay, well, you're here for "12 Days," obviously.
We're gonna put you in the audience and everything
that we're giving away today on "12 Days,"
both of you are getting. - Are you serious?
- Yeah. All right?
[cheers and applause]
- No way. - Thank you so much.
- You can go to our website to find out--
it's the least we can do.
Go to our website to find out
how you can become a donor
and potentially save a life.
We'll be right back.