9-year-old cancer survivor meets man who saved her life

(Chelsea Carver)


6 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

BOUNTIFUL — A few weeks ago, 9-year-old Cami Carver met the man who saved her life almost two years ago.

Cami was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2010 at 4 years old and underwent two and a half years of chemotherapy before going into remission, according to her mom, Chelsea Carver.

Sadly, the highly curable cancer returned just nine months later, and this time, it was harder to cure, and she'd need a bone marrow transplant.

Cami started chemotherapy the day after receiving the bad news, but rather than going home to recover, she had to stay in the hospital for six months.

Meanwhile, doctors were in search of a bone marrow match. When they learned her little brother Caden was not a match, they turned to the national bone marrow registry.

Chelsea Carver said there was only one perfect match for Cami, a 26-year-old male.


I'll never forget the day that they told us that he agreed to do it and that he would be a good match.

–Chelsea Carver, Cami's mom


"...there was a lot going against us, even though there was this one perfect match," Chelsea Carver said. "We were like, 'what are the odds that he's going to be healthy enough to do it' … and he also had to agree to do it."

Weeks later, they got the good news.

"I'll never forget the day that they told us that he agreed to do it and that he would be a good match," Chelsea Carver said. "It was just really amazing ... and it was just a really great feeling to know that he was going to go ahead and do that."

The donor, whose identity could not be revealed for a year following the transplant, sent a letter to Cami wishing her luck and telling her he was honored to do it for her.

Chelsea Carver said they knew right away he was an amazing guy and that they wanted to meet him.

The Carver Family. (Photo: Jennifer Fauset, Fauset Photography)
The Carver Family. (Photo: Jennifer Fauset, Fauset Photography)

And with the help of their family, they did.

The Carver family flew donor Joe Tolin and his family to Utah from Texas, and the two families spent time together enjoying Park City, visiting the aquarium, attending a Real Salt Lake soccer game and roasting s'mores in the canyon.

Chelsea Carver said Cami gave Tolin a big hug when she met him, and it was "really neat to meet this guy that saved our daughter's life. There's nothing you can say to thank someone for doing that for you, but you know, I just feel like he's a part of our family now."

Tolin, now 28, told KSL.com he was very excited to help Cami, and it was a great privilege.


Not a day goes by that I don't think about us going over there and how much fun that we had.

–Joe Tolin


"Not a day goes by that I don't think about us going over there and how much fun that we had," Tolin said. "Just the love that we share with the Carver's, there's this connection that we have that's unique and that not many people have, and it was just amazing."

Tolin said he thinks it's important to join the bone marrow registry because it gives people the opportunity to share in God's healing.

Chelsea Carver said they would love for people to join Be The Match, the national registry that connected Cami and Tolin.

She said Cami is doing great, and there is no cancer to be seen in her so far.

"Joe is really funny. He always says 'even an average Joe can save a life,'" Chelsea Carver said. "And it's true ... but we don't think he's an average Joe."

Photos

Related links

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

UtahUplifting
Megan Marsden Christensen

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast