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3-year-old cancer survivor acts as flower girl in bone marrow donor's wedding

Mark Broadway Photography SOURCE: Mark Broadway Photography
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3-year-old cancer survivor acts as flower girl in bone marrow donor's wedding
In 2015, Hayden Hatfield was studying at Auburn University in Alabama. Be The Match, a national registry of volunteer bone marrow donors, had set up on her campus. She decided to register, knowing there was a small chance she would end up being a match for someone. “It’s the easiest thing,” Hayden, 25, told the Dothan Eagle. “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, but at least I’m on there.'”Meanwhile, in Ventura, California, Todd and Talia Savren-McCormick welcomed their daughter Skye into the world. In her first year of life, Skye developed several illnesses, one of them being juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant. Nearly a year after that simple cheek swab, Hayden found out she was a match for a baby girl. “I had been struggling for a while; I had changed my major,” Hayden said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life and my career. I was feeling really down about everything. 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?'”In July of 2016, doctors extracted bone marrow from Hayden's pelvic bone and set Skye on the path to healing by producing healthy new blood cells.Skye's road to recovery wasn't easy. She lost her spleen and developed lymphoma in her eyelid, neck and back. “She has defied all odds,” said Talia Savren-McCormick. “We call her Warrior Skye, and she’s the toughest little cookie I know."Hayden had to remain anonymous for a year, per Be The Match policies. So she sent a letter through the organization to Skye's family, telling them how much the experience meant to her. When's Skye’s birthday came in March, Hayden sent her a birthday present and an invitation to be flower girl at her June 9 wedding in Alabama.At the rehearsal, Hayden and Skye were face-to-face for the first time. "I walked up and I just dropped to my knees and all I could do was smile," Hayden told ABC.During the wedding, Talia Savren-McCormick said her daughter "stepped out and took a giant, handful of flowers and threw them on the ground. One of the bridesmaids said everyone was ugly crying."Photographer Mark Broadway captured the special day and the bond between Hayden and Skye. The 3-year-old tossed flower petals as she walked down the aisle. She wore a beautiful gift from Hayden: a small bracelet of pearl beads and a charm inscribed with her name.Hayden and Skye hope to see each other again soon. "They are going to be part of our lives forever," Savren-McCormick added. "She saved our daughter's life."“I just feel like they’re family and they’re so special to me and the whole thing helped them, but it also changed my life,” Hayden said. “After everything, after this journey, it’s like God showed me 'this is why you were here. You were here to help this little girl and everything else will fall into place.'”Click here for more on Skye and Hayden's incredible story and to see pictures of the wedding.

In 2015, Hayden Hatfield was studying at Auburn University in Alabama. Be The Match, a national registry of volunteer bone marrow donors, had set up on her campus.

She decided to register, knowing there was a small chance she would end up being a match for someone.

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“It’s the easiest thing,” Hayden, 25, told the . “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, but at least I’m on there.'”

Meanwhile, in Ventura, California, Todd and Talia Savren-McCormick welcomed their daughter Skye into the world. In her first year of life, Skye developed several illnesses, one of them being juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia. She needed a bone marrow transplant.

Nearly a year after that simple cheek swab, Hayden found out she was a match for a baby girl.

“I had been struggling for a while; I had changed my major,” Hayden said. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life and my career. I was feeling really down about everything. 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?'”

In July of 2016, doctors extracted bone marrow from Hayden's pelvic bone and set Skye on the path to healing by producing healthy new blood cells.

Skye's road to recovery wasn't easy. She lost her spleen and developed lymphoma in her eyelid, neck and back.

“She has defied all odds,” said Talia Savren-McCormick. “We call her Warrior Skye, and she’s the toughest little cookie I know."

Hayden had to remain anonymous for a year, per Be The Match policies. So she sent a letter through the organization to Skye's family, telling them how much the experience meant to her.

When's Skye’s birthday came in March, Hayden sent her a birthday present and an invitation to be flower girl at her June 9 wedding in Alabama.

At the rehearsal, Hayden and Skye were face-to-face for the first time.

"I walked up and I just dropped to my knees and all I could do was smile," Hayden told

vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography

During the wedding, Talia Savren-McCormick said her daughter "stepped out and took a giant, handful of flowers and threw them on the ground. One of the bridesmaids said everyone was ugly crying."

vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography
vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography

Photographer Mark Broadway captured the special day and the bond between Hayden and Skye.

The 3-year-old tossed flower petals as she walked down the aisle. She wore a beautiful gift from Hayden: a small bracelet of pearl beads and a charm inscribed with her name.

vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography
vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography

Hayden and Skye hope to see each other again soon.

"They are going to be part of our lives forever," Savren-McCormick added. "She saved our daughter's life."

vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography
Mark Broadway Photography
vlog-TV
Mark Broadway Photography

“I just feel like they’re family and they’re so special to me and the whole thing helped them, but it also changed my life,” Hayden said. “After everything, after this journey, it’s like God showed me 'this is why you were here. You were here to help this little girl and everything else will fall into place.'”