Friends for life: Yarmouth boy meets bone marrow donor

By Tina Comeau

THE VANGUARD

NovaNewsNow.com

Bryden Hutt of Yarmouth and Felix Kruse of Germany have a bond that is pretty hard to break. That’s what happens when you save someone else’s life.

But when the two got to meet for the first time during a trip to Disneyworld in Florida a few weeks ago, that bond became even stronger. “Me and Felix were inseparated,” says five-year-old Bryden. “Actually, you were inseparable,” corrects his mother, but it’s cuter the way Bryden says it.

Bryden Hutt is a Grade Primary student at Meadowfields Community School. He has Ommen’s Syndrome which, when he was a baby, left him without a functioning immune system.

When he was five months old he underwent a bone marrow transplant. It wasn’t until a couple of years afterwards that the family learned the identity of Bryden’s donor. It was a 24-year-old man from Germany named Felix Kruse. Byrden and his parents – Wendy and Jason – started exchanging letters and photos back and forth and hoped one day to meet. But given the distance separating them, a meeting seemed impossible at best.

Then Bryden was granted a wish trip through the Children’s Wish Foundation. When he was asked who he wanted to bring with him, he said he wanted to go with his mommy, his daddy and Felix, the person who saved his life when he was a baby.

So in mid-November the Hutts and Kruse and his girlfriend met in Florida for a vacation.

Wendy Hutt says they were actually a little nervous about meeting Kruse, given the language barrier and also because they didn’t want to overwhelm him with their emotions. “We didn’t know if we were going to talk to him right, or if we were going to be able to say thank you the way we wanted to,” she says.

Unable to wake Bryden up after his bedtime when Kruse arrived late in the evening, the next morning they Hutts told the little boy there was a surprise waiting for him. “I opened the door and Bryden knew instantly who it was. He ran right over to him and there was no hesitation on Felix’s part, he got right off the couch and picked him up,” Hutt says.

And so for a week everyone got the chance to get to know each other better. And for the Hutts, they also got a welcome break from the hospital, the doctors and all of the medical chaos that’s been a part of their lives.

At a visit to Epcot Centre the Hutts and Kruse got to experience one another’s homelands and cultures with visits to the German and Canadian pavilions. One day they hope to visit one another’s countries for real. “Everybody had a great time and it has been very exciting to meet Bryden, Wendy and Jason,” Kruse told the Vanguard following the trip. “I like them very much. It was a really great trip and I am grateful for this unique experience. I hope that we can meet again.”

Meanwhile as with any meeting, the time came to say goodbye. The Hutts were the first ones to have to leave to catch their flight back home. “We could tell everyone was getting to that awkward stage where we knew we’d have to say goodbye,” says Wendy Hutt. “Finally I looked at Felix and said, ‘This is going to be hard for me to say. I mean it’s simple to say, but it’s hard too.’ “He hugged me and I said, ‘Thank you for saving my son’s life.’ Then he started to cry and I started to cry.”

The Hutts got into their van and drove off, leaving behind Kruse and his girlfriend. “While we went all around the parking lot, on the main road and onto the highway, they were still waving to us until we were out of sight, which I thought was really sweet,” Hutt says. “Yeah,” sighs Bryden. “We were inseparated.”