Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

3-Year-Old Cancer Survivor Is The Flower Girl At Her Bone Marrow Donor's Wedding—And Now We're Crying 😭

Make us preferred on Google

Hayden Hatfield Ryals was in college when she signed up to be a bone marrow donor in 2015. At the time, she didn't think she would be a match for anybody; however, fate had a plan in store when the call for help came a year later.

A baby girl by the name of Skye Savren-McCormick was diagnosed with leukemia, and a coordinator from the marrow registry "Be the Match" told Ryals she was a match.


After struggling to find the meaning of life, the young student finally found her purpose: to save Skye's life.

The pair finally met for the first time and were no longer known as donor and survivor. On this special occasion, they were the bride and her flower girl.



Prior to becoming a donor, Ryals told the Dothan Eagle how she began questioning her life's mission:

"I was having trouble finding myself and feeling like I had a purpose. So the more that I talked to this coordinator with Be the Match, I started feeling like, what if this is my purpose?"

Skye was just diagnosed with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia prior to her first birthday in March 2016. She received her first bone marrow transplant that year, but due to complications on her road to recovery, the toddler still required a second transplant from another donor in 2017, and that bone marrow came from Ryals.




Ryals said the process of being a donor was very simple, and for her, the gesture paid off significantly.

"It's a cheek swab -- swab your cheek, put it in an envelope and they send it off ... I thought there's like a one in a gazillion chance that I would ever be a match."

While Skye was fighting the cancer, Ryals questioned who the little soldier was and how she was doing, but Be the Match requires that all donors refrain from contacting patients for one year.

When the time came, she contacted Skye's mother and corresponded through text messages and Facebook.

On Skye's third birthday, Ryals sent the toddler a special gift, including an invitation to her wedding, asking her to be the flower girl.

With the doctor's consent, the Savren-McCormick family flew out to Alabama for the wedding, where both families met for the very first time at the wedding rehearsal.

Ryals recalled the emotional moment with ABC news:

"I walked up and I just dropped to my knees and all I could do was smile."





Twitter was emotional over the touching story of two people linked together in a special way.










Skye's mother told ABC that her daughter wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for Ryals.

"She was that sick. I feel like Hayden is such a huge success in why Skye was able to beat leukemia."

Both families plan to stay in touch.

"They are going to be part of our lives forever," said Skye's mother. "She saved our daughter's life."




H/T - Twitter, ABCnews, CBS

More from Trending

Martha Stewart on "The Real Housewives of New York"; A vintage photograph of John F. Kennedy Jr.
Bravo; Barry King / Contributor/Getty Images

Martha Stewart Reveals Prescient Warning She Gave JFK Jr. Just Days Before Fatal Plane Crash

The tragic deaths of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and Lauren Bessette were brought back to the public eye with the highly rated, if controversial, mini-series Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.

The mini series proved particularly triggering for the multitalented Martha Stewart.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ben Shapiro; Nick Offerman
Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

Nick Offerman Epically Rips Ben Shapiro's Homophobic Rant About His Critically-Acclaimed 'The Last Of Us' Episode

Far-right The Daily Wire weirdo Ben Shapiro has made an entire career out of crash-outs about LGBTQ people, becoming one of the main mouthpieces of the right in the process.

And actor Nick Offerman has had enough. In a recent interview he laid into Shapiro, un-fondly reminiscing about what the commentator had to say about Offerman's role as a gay man in The Last of Us.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lisa Demuth
Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images

Minnesota GOP Gubernatorial Candidate's Daughter Calls Her Out For Sounding 'Like Trump' In Shady Post

Shelisa Demuth, the daughter of Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth, called her out for sounding "like" President Donald Trump regarding her views on affordable housing compared to her Democratic challenger, Senator Amy Klobuchar.

Demuth’s daughter, Shelisa Demuth, has clashed with her mother before, particularly after Lisa Demuth blocked a major Senate-approved gun reform package in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Shelisa Demuth is a survivor of the 2003 Rocori High School shooting.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Hank Kunneman
Voice of Revival/YouTube

MAGA Pastor Dragged After Claiming Uncircumcised People Are Trying To 'Steal This Nation' In Unhinged Sermon

Hank Kunneman, a pastor and self-described prophet of One Voice Ministries, went viral after delivering an utterly odd, transphobic, and Islamophobic sermon to his congregation ahead of the midterm elections pledging that he won't let uncircumcised people "steal" the United States.

Kunneman's remarks attracted attention after they were circulated by Right Wing Watch, an organization that tracks far-right extremism in the U.S. According to the Old Testament of the Bible, uncircumcised people are excluded from God's spiritual covenant. The term "uncircumcised" was also used to describe the Philistines, foreigners who did not follow God.

Keep ReadingShow less
Spice Girls attend launch of new musical based on the Spice Girls' music at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.
Eamonn McCormack/WireImage

Fans Bummed After The Spice Girls Reveal What Their 'Big Announcement' Is—And It's Not A Reunion Tour

Spice Girls fans will tell you what they want, what they really, really want—and apparently, expectations were too high. It all started with a cryptic social media post two days ago that had fans convinced something major was about to spice up their lives.

The video opened with a copy of The Stage newspaper resting across a set of colorful patterned stairs—and the choice of reading material was no coincidence. The same publication famously carried the 1994 ad seeking members for an all-female pop group that would eventually become the Spice Girls

Keep ReadingShow less