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  • 2 days ago

A bone marrow transplant donor is at hospital in Germany, and local business magnate Arthur Lok Jack is at the University of Miami hospital.
The donor is ready to give a gift of life, and Lok Jack is on the receiving end of that. It's a procedure that would link two people from different parts of the world in a way they had never imagined.
Tonight, Reporter Alicia Boucher and Cameraman Brandon Benoit bring you Part 2 of the story on Lok Jack's battle with Leukemia.


Transcript
00:00Bone marrow transplant donor Lars Schaumeyer goes under full anesthetic on Friday, October 14, 2016 on his birthday.
00:09It's in preparation for a direct extraction of his bone marrow at a hospital in Cologne, Germany.
00:16Well, technically speaking, it is very easy. You punch a hole into the bone and you get the marrow out.
00:23That's the easy way of putting it. By the way, my first time under full anesthesia, never had anything before like that.
00:30And the people were just so absolutely wonderful.
00:36I remember opening my eyes and the people were giving me a little bit of a cake, just a little bit of a cake because of the birthday thing.
00:44It's now a race against time to get a bone marrow from Germany to Miami,
00:48where businessman Arthur Lockjack is clinging on to hope for a second chance at life.
00:53Hope of beating leukemia.
00:55The entire procedure must be completed in a 24 hour window.
00:59Lockjack's wife, Glenda Lockjack, recalls the moment it happened.
01:03Exactly on October 14th.
01:06Same day?
01:07The same day. October, it came and it took about an hour and a half to infuse it.
01:14And, but we didn't know who he was.
01:17Yes.
01:18But that is what happened on October the 14th.
01:21And then after that, you heard a clapping inside of the room because all of us were around, you know.
01:28And they came in with a huge cake with candles and said, that's your new birth date.
01:35That was very funny.
01:37With a focus on Lockjack's health, neither he nor his wife are drawn to their wedding anniversary date.
01:43Under different circumstances, it may have been a celebration of their 49th year of marriage,
01:49having tied a knot on October 14th, 1967.
01:53That fact would only dawn on them much later on.
01:57Lockjack begins his long journey to recovery, entering into a trance-like state at times.
02:03He had things all over his skin from top to bottom.
02:07Right.
02:08Medicine even sucked the liver.
02:10After that, after the 2019, it really started getting better.
02:14Better.
02:15A policy guiding the conditions of the transplant, including the parameters for the donor and recipient,
02:21stipulates that no information is shared until after a specified time.
02:26The initial contact by way of letters must be anonymous, and there must be mutual interest in wanting to engage.
02:33When I got the call that there's somebody on the other side who's maybe, that the procedure might have worked,
02:41and that I was allowed to write a letter, I fell into a big, deep hole of what to write.
02:48Because I had no idea how do you write something like that.
02:53A copy of Chowmeyer's letter, written in 2019, has been shared in Lockjack's recently published autobiography,
03:01Beyond Borders, Building a Global Business.
03:04It begins with the words,
03:05Dear Friend, followed by an explanation of his struggle to find the right words,
03:10his care about the follow-up treatment, and provides a little insight into his own life,
03:15such as his work as a remedial teacher and wanting to start a blacksmith business that very summer.
03:21He closes the letter with,
03:23Your helping hand from across the pond.
03:26Lockjack deliberates, and then responds,
03:29Dear Genetic Twin,
03:31It is hard to believe that five years have passed since your kind, generous, and selfless donation.
03:37He expresses a desire to hear more about Chowmeyer's business,
03:41mentioning his own line of business with chocolates and snacks, and moreover telling Chowmeyer,
03:47Quote,
03:48I am sorry to hear of your past misfortune with your dad.
03:51However, I am sure that he is proudly looking down on the man that you have become,
03:56and your actions, one of which is saving my life. End quote.
04:00Lockjack closes the letter with,
04:02Your friend from the Caribbean.
04:04Letters between the two transition into a video call.
04:08Lockjack makes that call from Associated Brands Industries' limited boardroom,
04:12surrounded by people, including his wife, and employees who are close to him.
04:17I didn't expect that.
04:19But immediately, it was an immediate connection there.
04:26And we talked a little bit, we immediately clicked,
04:31and it was just a beautiful way of getting to know the face of the person who shares your genetic outset.
04:38It's a wild idea. It's a really wild idea.
04:43I wondered who the hell was this long-haired.
04:48In 2021, the Lockjacks invite Chowmeyer and his girlfriend Neelam to visit them in Trinidad.
04:56The timing of it surrounds their very special day, October 14th.
05:00They hold a triple celebration, marking their anniversary through a renewal of their vows,
05:06the day of the bone marrow transplant, and Chowmeyer's birthday all in one.
05:11It was just a fate that happened, I suppose.
05:15You know, and out of the blue, a stranger saved my life.
05:26And he didn't know, and I didn't know.
05:30According to you.
05:31For Chowmeyer, the experience still feels surreal.
05:34Especially Trinidad has become such a fixed place in my heart.
05:40And in my family's heart, for that regard.
05:43But the thing that mattered to me most was seeing you all together.
05:53Him, beautiful wife, beautiful children, everyone together.
06:00My parents didn't get to enjoy that.
06:03My family didn't get to enjoy that.
06:05Lockjack admits that he has been asked by people how much he paid to get his donor.
06:10It's a significantly ethical situation.
06:19Because a person like me, in my position,
06:22he would pay any amount of money to get a donor who had your match.
06:34That is not the least bit contemplated at all in that situation.
06:46Chowmeyer has been to TNT twice, and our interview coincided with his second visit for Lockjack's book launch.
06:53It's also now nine years since Lockjack walked away victorious in his battle with leukemia.
06:59Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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