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Me and my team mates from Team WNT Cycling are riding 100 miles at the RideLondon 100 sportive on 2nd August 2015. We are raising money for Anthony Nolan, a charity who've supported my 20 year old brother, Tom. Tom has a rare bone marrow disorder called Aplastic Anaemia, where his bone marrow, for an unknown reason in his case, has stopped working and no longer produces blood cells or platelets, meaning he has no immune system. This nightmare started on the 6th May 2014 in the Christies Hospital, Manchester. By the 2nd July Tom had received his first bone marrow transplant from a total stranger, found by Anthony Nolan. One week later Tom was in the Critical Care Unit for 5 days with double pneumonia. Once he'd recovered from this, he was allowed back into his isolation room and on the 28th July Tom was discharged, however only for one day, as he'd received a positive blood test for a virus called CMV, back to the isolation room it was. On 7th August we got the bad news the bone marrow transplant had failed.

Anthony Nolan searched for another bone marrow donor for Tom, unfortunately only two people on the bone marrow register were a match for Tom, and he'd already had one of the two matches. On 4th October after having 7 days of chemotherapy, Tom received his 2nd bone marrow transplant, and spent his 20th birthday in an isolation room on the 10th October. The 24th October brought some bad news, Tom had an uncommon disease called Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) which was life threatening, needing huge doses of steroids to treat it. 

6th December Tom was told his 2nd bone marrow transplant had failed, and so he was discharged from hospital, however still needing blood transfusions and platelets at least once a week. In the meantime arrangements were made for myself (Hannah) to be a bone marrow donor (I wasn't a 100% match but I was 50%). Tom had chemotherapy and radiotherapy the week prior to me having the operation, and he received 6 million cells a few hours after I was out of theatre on the 18th February. Only to be told on the 24th March the transplant had failed, so he was discharged again. Two days later Tom collapsed and was rushed to hospital with low blood pressure, and a heart rate of over 186bpm, Drs said he'd of died from a cardiac arrest had we left it any longer. Blood tests showed that Tom had CMV again, but this time it was riddled in his blood and lungs, preventing him from breathing, he was extremely weak. On 2nd April 2015 he was given 48 hours to live, so it was a very traumatic period for the whole family. Everything possible was done by Drs and nurses to help Tom stay alive. Lots of strength, positiveness and fight from Tom, miracle medicines, family, friends, Drs and nurses helped Tom reach a more stable state within a week. 24th April Tom was discharged from hospital, and so the nightmare still continues. 

Since 6th May 2014: 258 days in an isolation room in Christies Hospital.

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You can follow the team on twitter @WNTTEAM or myself @spannawalker

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