Race against time: Loyal Oberammergau vacationer is urgently looking for stem cell donors

Created: 02/13/2022, 07:44

By: Josef Hornsteiner

Hoping for the right donor: Renate Schneider (left) and daughter Aenne-Sophie from the Stuttgart area.

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Loyal Oberammergau vacationers are urgently looking for stem cell donors for the sick mother (59).

Now they are also looking for suitable donors where they usually spend their holidays.

Oberammergau/Stuttgart

– Renate Schneider would like to celebrate Christmas in Oberammergau again, with her daughter and grandmother – just like she has done for over 15 years.

But the 59-year-old from the Stuttgart area does not know today whether she will still be alive.

Renate Schneider has MDS syndrome, the precursor to leukemia.

The doctor gives her six months.

Only one person can save her: a stem cell donor.

That's why daughter Aenne-Sophie Schneider, 27, is now urgently looking for potential lifesavers where they usually go on vacation.

Ever since she was a small child, Aenne-Sophie Schneider has been fascinated by the mountains.

There are none in her home country of Baden-Württemberg.

"Or not that high." So it's no wonder that she couldn't wait to get on the train with her grandmother and mother for the first time at the age of eleven and travel to Oberammergau.

Since then, the Ammertal has been a permanent fixture in the diary.

They always spent Pentecost, summer and Christmas holidays at Passionort.

Last year for the last time.

The family got to know and love the country and its people.

Your favorite retreat from the start: The Parkhotel Sonnenhof in Oberammergau.

Department director Björn Köppen, who has been with the hotel for 29 years, has known the family since day one.

"She's such a sweetheart," he says.

The Schneiders are regular guests, as one could wish for.

He and his team were shocked to hear the news on social media about Schneider's severe stroke of fate.

It started with pneumonia in December 2020

The course of the disease began in December 2020. Renate Schneider was a cheerful and hard-working medical assistant, senior caregiver and also looked after countless old and sick seniors as part of neighborhood help.

When she fell ill with pneumonia, the family did not think much.

But four more severe cases followed.

In addition, she was infected with the corona virus.

"The result was eight agonizing weeks in the hospital," says Aenne-Sophie Schneider, who works for the German Red Cross.

When her mother finally returned home from the clinic in March 2021, the family hoped the worst was over.

But it was not like that.

A veritable marathon to doctors and hospitals followed.

Nobody knew why Schneider's health did not improve.

Until the horror diagnosis followed in June 2021.

MDS syndrome, a precursor to leukemia.

Many bone marrow punctures, blood transfusions, countless hospital stays and further pneumonia followed.

The single mother, who could work until she dropped, was now dependent on help herself.

The ambulance had to come twice a week.

The doctors gave her a good six months to live.

Daughter and grandma selflessly take care of sick mother

Since then, their daughter and grandmother have devotedly taken care of them.

"I come home as often as possible and support mom, even though I'm studying far away," says Schneider.

"But I want to give her back the many years that she was there for me." The dearest wish: "I would like to have many more happy years together with my mother." The big goal: Christmas together in Oberammergau this year Celebrate in the Parkhotel, "where the party is so beautiful".

Here you can test whether you qualify as a donor

Only a suitable stem cell donor could help to defeat the disease.

But finding it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Because the "genetic twin" of every human being needed for a transplant is rare.

There should only be a handful of suitable donors in Germany and beyond.

In order to identify these, the Schneider family is now asking for active help, not least because time is running out: Potential donors can register on the homepage www.dkms.de/aktiv- Werden/on line-aktionen/mama-renate.

All you have to do is send in a saliva sample.

If the genetic twin is actually among them, it could save Renate Schneider's life - and give the family even more Christmas celebrations in Oberammergau.