Skip to main content

'I would have died': Minister LeBlanc meets man behind life-saving stem cell transplant

Share
Ottawa -

A stem cell transplant will forever connect Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc with a young man from Germany.

"I would have died," LeBlanc told Evan Solomon on CTV News Channel's Power Play on Monday. The minister was diagnosed with an aggressive blood cancer called non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2019.

Jonathan Kehl was just 21 years old when he appeared in a registry as a match for LeBlanc. The two men were strangers to each other when Kehl made the donation. They would learn about each other two years after the transplant.

LeBlanc and Kehl met in person in Ottawa for the first time Sunday. They say it’s been an emotional 24 hours.

"If they hadn’t found the perfect genetic match with the same blood type, and it was this remarkable young man in Germany … I absolutely wouldn’t have seen the fall of 2019," LeBlanc said.

Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Jonathan Kehl discuss the stem cell transplant in the video at the top of this article. 

IN DEPTH

Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?

Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Local Spotlight

'It was surreal': Ontario mother gives birth to son on day of solar eclipse

For many, Monday's total solar eclipse will become a distant memory or collection of photos to scroll through in the years to come. But for Alannah Duarte and her family, they'll be reminded of the rare celestial event every year they celebrate their youngest son's birthday, as he was born on the day of the momentous occasion.

Stay Connected