Not many of us can say we've saved a live but one local teenager is thanking a complete stranger for saving his.
On Sunday the bone marrow donor flew to Omaha to meet the teen in person.
16-year-old Koby Dicus was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia June 2013. Shortly after starting chemotherapy, he became very sick. Dicus was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Nebraska Medicine and was placed on a ventilator for two weeks.
When Dicus got to his last round of chemo, doctors told him he needed a bone marrow transplant. By the end of 2013, they discovered a perfect match in then 21-year-old Nick Magyar from New Hampshire.
"He saved my life," said Dicus.
On Sunday the two met at Nebraska Medicine and sat next to the man who saved his life.
"It was surreal I kind of listened to the voice mail 2-3 times and called my parents and discussed it with them and saying is this true," said Magyar.
Magyar admits he was nervous but was sure he was willing to try to help save the boy he'd never met. "I just knew I had to go through it, go through with the whole process because I couldn't let something awful happen to someone".
This scare hits home for Magyar, he's a teacher and basketball coach and is a mentor for kids Dicus' age.
"Potentially seeing one of them pass away or anything was just crazy to think about," said Dicus.
Magyar went into surgery November 1, 2013 for then 14-year-old Dicus. A medical drill pryed into him 2010 times, all for a complete stranger.
"It's not even about knowing the person or anything, it's just knowing another human and, If you can save someone-why would you let them die?" said Magyar.
"Without those donations I wouldn't be able to be here," said Dicus, "It's awesome to talk to the person who saved my life."
Dicus and Magyar hope others will now sign up to be bone marrow donors on the registry.
"I would just like everybody to take their time to do it I mean you can save somebody's life," said Dicus.
If you would like to be on the registry go to this website: https://bethematch.org/
