"It wasn't exactly the way I pictured it in my overactive imagination," Hanson said.

Redfern desperately needed a transplant because of a rare blood disease that can turn into a deadly form of leukemia.

The soft-spoken Marine and the 50-year-old Marshall, Texas, woman who owes her life to him met for the first time last week — 16 months after her successful transplant.

"He is my life-saver because if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today," Redfern said. "He is just an angel to me."

Doctors and nurses at Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center wiped away tears as Hanson and Redfern hugged and ate celebratory cake.

"The message of today is that miracles happen every day through the generous gifts of complete strangers," said Jane Stearns, manager of Baylor's Unrelated Stem Cell Donor Program.

In Redfern's case, doctors determined none of her four sisters was a match. A search of the national database found Hanson.

While serving in Okinawa, Japan, the Marine had given blood and filled out a card agreeing to donate marrow if needed.

By the time the call came, the Stockport, Ohio, native was based at the Naval Air Station, Joint Reserve Base, in New Orleans.

After a series of blood tests to confirm the match, he underwent nearly a week of outpatient procedures to make the donation. Hanson only knew a woman, then 49, needed help. He learned her name much later. "I always wondered how she was doing, if it worked," he said.

Finally, he got his answer.