An Argentine woman with leukemia has been reunited with her father after 18 years, and he may be able to help her out.
Malen Gaynor, 39, turned to Facebook to search for her father after doctors told her she needed to find a bone marrow donor, Spanish news agency EFE reports. Her chemotherapy treatments were proving ineffective, and physicians told her she needed a bone marrow transplant to increase her chances of survival.
On June 4, Gaynor's father will fly to Buenos Aires to be tested to see if he is a match.
It all started last Christmas when Gaynor noticed a rash on her legs. She assumed it was an allergic reaction to a bug bite, according to Argentine newspaper Clarin, but when she went to a doctor, she was diagnosed with a bone marrow disease that later turned into leukemia. Relatives can sometimes be matches for bone marrow donation.
Through a Facebook search, Gaynor -- who eventually lost contact with her father after her parents divorced -- found out her dad was living in Cordoba, a city roughly 400 miles northwest of her home in Buenos Aires. Through him, she was also reunited with her half-brother, whom she hadn't seen since he was a baby, according to Clarin.
Gaynor says the reunion with her father has brought closure. "I feel that I've reconciled with my past," she told local news outlets.
She has set up the Facebook page Hoy Dono Vida (Today I Donate Life) to raise awareness about the importance of bone marrow donations in hope that others will sign up as donors.