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Singer from Peter, Paul and Mary Said, She Hoped Her Bone Marrow Donor "Wasn't A Republican" - Now She Publicly Expresses Her Gratitude

Judy Keen/TN : Sep 4, 2006
USA Today

69-year-old Mary Travers -- of the folk group Peter, Paul & Mary fame -- has survived leukemia with the help of a bone marrow transplant from a stranger who it was discovered is poles apart from Travers politically.

Mary Hessen and Mary Travers Upon meeting the transplant donor, Mary DeWitt Hessen, Travers hugged her and gushed, "From the moment your bone marrow cells went into my body, I knew I was going to be OK." Later, before a sold-out concert, Travers said, "This is a very special woman to whom I owe everything."

According to a report in USA Today, the women only learned each other's identity a year after the transplant, because the National Marrow Donor Program requires donors and recipients to remain anonymous for a year, and even then they can only meet if both agree.

Most ironic is the fact that Travers, reportedly a longtime Democratic activist, had been said to joke before knowing the identity of her donor that she hoped it wasn't a Republican. When she found out that Hessen was a Republican, Mary said, "It has added a certain kind of vigor to my bones, but it hasn't changed my throat - or my politics."