Area Bone Marrow Donor Meets His Match

An Oklahoma man gave the ultimate gift to save a woman he'd never even met.<br><br>She lives in Michigan, and he's from Stillwater. His unselfish gift brought them together for the very first

Saturday, July 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

An Oklahoma man gave the ultimate gift to save a woman he'd never even met.

She lives in Michigan, and he's from Stillwater. His unselfish gift brought them together for the very first time Saturday at a meeting neither of them will ever forget.

Lynn Francis is the picture of health, which amazes her family and friends.

Last year during a routine doctor's visit she got some terrible news.

"I went in to have my knee checked on and in presurgery he was just going to scope it, and my white blood cell count was barely elevated," says Francis.

She went back in and had her blood checked again, and that's when she got the bad news.

"It came back leukemia," says Francis."You could have blown me away. I just lost my best friend and sister-in-law to colon cancer in September."

Doctors told her that finding a bone marrow match for a transplant is the only way she would live.

Without it, she was given an 18-month to five year death sentence.

"My brother went in first and he didn't match. It devastated him because your sibling is your best chance," says Francis.

Two more donors down the line, a match was found in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

It's been a year since Jack Moore's marrow gave Lynn a second chance and now the two are meeting for the first time.

Both of them have anticipted this day for months.

I'm tingling, I'm really excited," says Francis.

"It's pretty exciting," says Moore.

The Tulsa Red Cross is making the meeting possible. They saw to it that Jack's marrow made it to Lynn in Michigan.

For everyone, it's a moment worth waiting for.

Lynn says the only thing that could have made this meeting sweeter is if her two young sons could be here to tell him thank you, too.

Lynn is cancer-free right now.

She's waiting for her final DNA tests for her final prognosis.