A MAN diagnosed with a rare type of cancer and given only months to live has met up with the bone marrow donor who saved his life.

The emotional reunion between Royston man Tony Oliver and his Scottish donor Peter Hardy took place in York - more than four years after the lifesaving procedure took place.

In March 2015, Tony was diagnosed with myelofibrosis - a rare type of blood cancer that disrupts the body’s normal production of blood cells - and was told he only had months to live and urgently needed a bone marrow transplant.

Before his diagnosis, Tony originally thought that his symptoms were the sign of flu so went to his doctors and got some antibiotics.

When the medicine wasn’t working and he was still feeling ill, Tony went back to his doctor where a blood sample was taken - and within an hour of returning home, he received a phone call saying he needed to go straight to the hospital where he was given two pints of blood.

He then continued to visit the hospital every week to receive blood, right up until the hospital knew what was wrong and a biopsy showed that Tony feeling ill was in fact myelofibrosis.

“Right now I’m feeling fine,” said Tony, 75, “They warned me what I had to go through with the bone marrow transplant - a tube went through my chest and into my main artery and then I had 13 hours of chemotherapy.

“Normally they don’t give people over a certain age a bone marrow transplant but because I don’t smoke, ran, and was so healthy, I had the organs of a 30-year-old and could take the treatment.”

When Tony was told he needed a transplant, there were three possible matches for him - none of whom he knew - and Peter Hardy from Dumfries in Scotland was the best possible match.

About ten years ago, Peter was 18-years-old and saw a poster looking for people to donate their bone marrow and decided to join the Anthony Nolan Trust, where he gave a blood sample.

It wasn’t until five years later he was contacted saying he was a match for Tony.

The Anthony Nolan Trust is a charity which matches individuals who are willing to donate their blood stem cells or bone marrow to people who desperately need lifesaving transplants.

In preparation for the five-hour procedure back in 2015, Peter was given injections to increase his blood levels and travelled all the way from Scotland to London to help Tony.

But only now have the pair finally met, after years of waiting to establish the transplant had been a success.

“I wanted to know who the donor was, so I wrote a letter to the Anthony Nolan Trust which then got forwarded to Peter,” explained Tony, of Parkhead Close.

“You’ve got to write a letter to them and they get in touch with the donor.

“They got in touch with Peter and he said he wanted to see me too.

“He told me that when he got the letter it was his birthday and he had a

terrible day, so when he opened the card, he burst into tears.

“We met in York and it was very emotional.

“Since I had the bone marrow transplant I’ve changed a lot and I wanted to know if Peter and I liked the same things.

“We decided to meet in front of York Minster and we went for a drink and a chat and then went for a meal overlooking the river.

“It was a very lively meeting - everybody wanted to know everything about each other and it was a very nice occasion.

“I owe my life to him. I’m so lucky he came forward, he could’ve always said no.

“If he hadn’t had stepped forward I would’ve been dead, I’m very lucky.

“With what’s happening in the world it’s amazing that somebody can do something like that.

“He could have turned around and said no, but to do what he did, I think it’s unbelievable.”