Perfect match in more ways than one

What lengths would you go to impress a date? To woo the woman he met through a dating app and having learned what a lifesaving difference he could make, Max Tarrant signed up as a stem cell donor for blood cancer charity DKMS. The bold move worked and he proved himself the perfect match for Hannah who happened to be Head of Donor Recruitment at DKMS… and now Max has once again proved a perfect match – this time as a stem cell donor to save the life of a UK woman urgently needing a transplant.

Max, 30, from Surrey, was working in recruitment during lockdown when he met Hannah Thomas through a dating app.

He said, “After we started chatting, I looked Hannah up on LinkedIn. It sounds a bit creepy, but in my defense, I spent a lot of time checking people out on LinkedIn as part of my then job. I saw she worked for blood cancer charity DKMS and thought that looked interesting. I thought it would be a good talking point, and I wanted to impress her, so I registered to sign up as a donor.”

Hannah, 31, who has been Head of Donor Recruitment at DKMS since 2019, said she was surprised when Max told her he had registered. She said, “I told him it was a commitment and explained what signing up entailed and that one day he may get the call.”

She herself registered as a stem cell donor when she joined the charity.

Someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer every 14 minutes, and nearly 13,000 die from blood cancer each year – hence DKMS’ mission to encourage more people from all walks of life to join the UK stem cell donor register; a quick and easy process that takes just minutes.

Max and Hannah’s romance continued to blossom since first meeting in 2020 and in July 2021, Max proposed. The couple wed in September 2022.

Fast forward to summer 2026 and Max, who left working in the tech industry to set up his own pizza catering business, Pizza Portfolio, remembers ‘the call’ that did indeed come in spring this year.

“I was making pizza dough, and the phone number came up as DKMS, so my immediate thought was, ‘Is Hannah OK?’ There was a moment of panic. Then when I heard a match had been found, I was like, ‘What?!’ It was a rollercoaster of emotions. I thought it was exciting, but it was a bit of a shock,” he said.

In summer, Max headed to The London Clinic in the Harley Street Health District, to donate his stem cells.

“I knew I was going to be cannulated, and I knew what was coming. When I arrived, the nurse was chatting and waving needles around and then said, ‘By the way, that was a test.’ He said I would be fine as I hadn’t made a fuss.”

Despite the nerves, Max says the experience was a far calmer experience than expected.

“Everyone was lovely. I had drinks and lunch, watched a film, and Hannah was with me. All very easy. Of course, it’s a little bizarre, but it’s a mild inconvenience to do something fantastic to help someone.”

Max said it was at home later that evening; he took in what had happened. He said, “it hit me later when I was chatting with Hannah. I’m quite a pragmatic person — but Hannah pointed out, ‘You’ve saved a person’s life.’ It took her saying that for it to become more real.”

Hannah, who had registered as a potential donor years earlier, said, “I’m immensely proud of Max — although I’m a little jealous that he had been called first! We hope our lockdown love story will inspire other people to consider stem cell donation and understand the difference a donation can make.”

Because of strict rules around donor and patient anonymity, Max was only told that his stem cells were needed for a woman in the UK.

Currently, only 7% of eligible people are registered as potential stem cell donors in the UK with around 2,000 people waiting for a stem cell donor transplant.

It is fitting that the couple celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary on 24 September – during Blood Cancer Awareness Month – which educates the public, and supports those affected by blood cancers such as leukaemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.