This past Sunday, they met for the first time.
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"Hey, little man," said Neil McMillin as he kneeled down to hug Kayden Nazzario.
McMillin is a Sheriff's Deputy in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City.
He signed up to be on the National Bone Marrow Registry.
Years went by, until he got the call, he was a match for Kayden, who was just a baby.
He has a rare disorder and desparately needed a bone marrow transplant.
"The chances of us finding a match are so rare. Knowing that he might not have a match out there and that was his only chance at living a normal life, then none of us being a match, it was devastating," says Kayden's mother, Shelby.
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McMillin was happy to help, but says meeting Kayden, even years later, was unlike anything he's ever done.
"My heart is pounding out of my chest. Being a cop, I've dealt with a lot of scary things at times. This tops everything by far," he says.
Since his donation to Kayden, McMillin also learned he was a match for a second person.
He donated again earlier this year.
To find out how you can sign up to be a bone marrow donor, click here for the BeTheMatch program.
The program is always in need of racial and ethnic minorities, for whom a closer match is required.