Hello there,

I’m going to be running the Berlin marathon at the end of September, fundraising for the Anthony Nolan charity, a foundation that supports people dealing with blood disorders. The Anthony Nolan charity does incredible work by matching donors from around the world, saving lives of those dealing with blood conditions such as leukemia and blood cancer through stem cell transplants. 

In June 2021 after a few weeks of suffering from an awful throat infection (the sorest throat in the world that anyones ever had… according to me). I was in and out of a&e but couldn’t shift the infection. It was when my throat turned completely black that I was admitted to St Georges hospital, where after a-lot of persuasion and dramatics, I eventually agreed to let them give me a blood test. Anyone who knows me is aware of my extreme phobia of needles and hospital environments, so I was well and truly living my worst nightmare that day, never mind what was to come. 

The results of the blood tests were shocking to the staff, with some of the a&e doctors telling me they hadnt seen blood counts as low as mine in their whole career. 

A healthy platelet count should be between 150-400, and all I had was a measly 3 to my name. All of my other blood counts were dangerously low, so I was referred to the incredible haematology department at St Georges in London who got to work on me straight away to figure out what was wrong. (All of the needles)

They eventually decided they needed to do a bonemarrow biopsy on me - (very big needle, pretty much a screwdriver), which they used to take a sample of my bone marrow.

Once the results were back, I was diagnosed with ‘Idiopathic severe aplastic anaemia’. This basically means a complete bonemarrow failure which meant my body was not producing any of its own blood cells and I had been running on fumes, for goodness knows how long. 

The silver lining was that there was a straight forward fix - a stemcell/bonemarrow transplant. But from who?

This is where the anthony nolan charity stepped in. They have a database of people who have signed up to a register where they have their details stored. If anyone comes up as a match, they arrange for them to harvest their cells with the intention of transplanting them into the person with the dodgy ones. (Its alot more complicated than that, some major science is involved in the process!)

The Anthony Nolan charity eventually reached out to me with the news they had found a potential match for my bone marrow transplant. It was a man living in Germany and he was a perfect match! I couldn’t believe my luck. 

In November 2021, only less than 6months after being diagnosed, they were ready to fix me up with my new stemcells thanks to my new anonymous German donor. 

I was in hospital for a total of about 5 months, during this time I was guzzling alot of donated blood, I was on about 2/3 blood transfusions a week and probably about 4 platelet transfusions a week. These were keeping me alive in the run up to getting my transplant and I will always be grateful to anyone who donates blood on a regular basis - you saved my life!

The process was pretty intense,  and absolutely mind blowing, the team at St Georges, all the NHS staff and of course my mystery german blood brother were all amazing and 10 days after receiving my donor cells, my blood counts started to come back all by themselves, it was incredible.

I bounced back pretty quickly after my transplant and I am so grateful for everyone who made it happen along the way. (The blood running through my veins now is 100% donor cells - the ideal result they are looking for after receiving stem-cells from a donor).

So… what better way to get back into full health than train for a marathon, in the country of my heroic donor, while raising money for the amazing charity who saved my life and do with so many others every day.

If you’ve made this far, you are a legend, but it also means you need to follow through and sponsor me, otherwise you’re just being nosey..

PS. I am very much one of the lucky ones, as I was able to be matched with a suitable donor very quickly. Others are not as lucky as me and some are waiting for years until they find their match. If you are interested in joining the Anthony Nolan register and potentially saving someones life you can register here;

https://www.anthonynolan.org/help-save-a-life/join-stem-cell-register

Every day, Anthony Nolan saves the lives of people with a blood cancer or blood disorder. We do this by matching incredible individuals willing to donate their stem cells to people who desperately need a lifesaving transplant. We also carry out cutting edge scientific research, fund specialist post-transplant nurses and support patients and their families through the transplant process and beyond. We won’t stop until we save the lives of everyone who needs a stem cell transplant. Every penny you donate brings us closer to that day.