How did you meet your significant other? Was it a shared cab ride? A drink at the local watering hole? We all have stories about how we met the special person in our lives, but most don’t match up to Heather Krueger and Chris Dempsey. This couple is the perfect match… literally.
In 2014, Krueger was told by her doctor that she had stage 4 liver cancer. If she wanted to live more than a few months she would need to find an organ donor — immediately.
“I was told I had less than a 50 percent chance of living more than two months,” Krueger told ABC. “It was traumatic.”
Dempsey, who was a complete stranger at the time of her diagnosis, heard about her plight and decided to see if he was a match.
“I spent four years in the Marine Corps and learned there never to run away from anything. So I just said to myself, ‘Hey, if I can help, I’m going to help,'” he told CBS.
Dempsey admits that his family was nervous about why he would help a total stranger. They eventually realized the sacrifice he was making and agreed it was for the common good.
Krueger and Dempsey eventually met over lunch and talked about all of the options available. They quickly checked into the University of Illinois Hospital where a liver transplant was performed.
Following the procedure, a lot of emotions surfaced, especially for Krueger.
“He had told me at the beginning of everything, ‘You owe me absolutely nothing for this. We can go our separate ways if that’s what you want,'” Krueger told Today. “It was kind of like, we do have this special bond, but is this just because I’m sick that I’m feeling this way? You had to kind of separate that, but after the surgery, I realized it went beyond that.”
The couple eventually started dating and last December they announced their engagement and then married the following month.
