Thank you for taking the time to visit JustGiving and our  "Mauriello's Marriage and Miracles" page

Our story - On 5 October 2018 (his 61st birthday) Tony received the devastating diagnosis that he had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a life threatening blood cancer condition, that without immediate treatment would prove fatal in a few short weeks.  By the 9 October treatment had begun and Tony would spend the next 5 months in near isolation at Chesterfield hospital undergoing treatment to destroy the AML, prior to the only treatment option to cure him, a bone marrow transplant.

On a miserable, rainy November day we met the specialist bone marrow team and listened while they explained the extreme chemotherapy treatment required, the process of finding a suitable donor, extended stays in hospital, the side effects of a transplant, the odds of success for a patient of Tony's age and the long term, potentially life changing prognosis - it was a difficult day for both of us to say the least... 

At the end of January 2019 Tony went into Sheffield Hallamshire hospital under the amazing care, expertise and support of the Specialist Bone Marrow Transplant Team.  There are absolutely no words to describe these truly amazing people who have demonstrated such care and attention to Tony and I, through what has been the most difficult period of our lives.

On the 7th of February we effectively celebrated Tony's 1st day birthday as he received new bone marrow from an anonymous, 24 year old German donor - another truly amazing human being who we will never be able to thank enough for helping to save Tony's life.  We hope to meet him personally to say "thank you" when the time is right to do so.

To Professor John Snowden, Dr Harpreet Kaur, Dr Yousef, Dr Natalie,  Aileen Neild our Transplant Co-Ordinator and the amazing doctors, nursing and support teams on wards O2 and P4 we will be forever grateful.  We must not also forget the fantastic Haematology team at Chesterfield Royal Hospital  who first made the diagnosis and cared for Tony in the first weeks, preparing him for the bone marrow transplant that was to come.

So this is our story so far...Tony continues to recover getting better and better, still under the constant care of the haematology and specialist transplant team.  This will be the case for some time to come

And this is why we have chosen to ask for donations to the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Blood Cancer Trust, in lieu of gifts for our celebration in October.   As part of the  Sheffield Hospitals Charity, the Blood Cancer Trust champions the incredible work undertaken at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital caring for patients with leukaemia, myeloma and lymphoma. An incredibly dedicated multi-disciplinary team of nurses, doctors, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and support staff look after patients with blood cancer of all sorts. The charity also has strong links with scientists at the University of Sheffield who are working round the clock to discover cures for blood cancers and to make life better for patients and their families.

A huge thank you to you all, love Tony and Anita xx