A Stranger Gave Me the Gift of Life
In August 2001, my life changed completely.
I had been feeling increasingly tired; my legs were exhausted just walking up slight inclines. I also developed unexplained bruising and a petechial rash.
I visited my GP and was diagnosed with Severe Aplastic Anaemia, a rare and life-threatening condition where your bone marrow fails to produce enough blood cells. After rounds of failed treatments, my only hope for survival was a stem cell transplant.
But I had to stay alive long enough to find a suitable donor.
For just over a year, as I waited to find my match, I was kept alive by the incredible generosity of blood and platelet donors. I received blood and platelet transfusions twice a week, racking up hundreds of transfusions as I waited for a stem cell donor.
Thankfully, a match was eventually found through the Anthony Nolan stem cell register in the UK – and in 2002, I received my
The transplant itself was surprisingly straightforward. It was essentially like having another blood or platelet transfusion, something I was very familiar with by then. But what was flowing into me was something completely different - stem cells that gave me functioning bone marrow, allowing me to generate enough blood cells again.
One of the fascinating things about having a stem cell transplant is that I actually took on my donor's blood type. I was originally O-negative, but my donor was A-positive, and as their stem cells took over my blood production system, my blood type changed too. I am now A-positive! It’s a remarkable reminder that, in a very real sense, part of my donor lives on in me.
Today, more than 20 years after my transplant, I try to make the absolute most of the life I was given. I moved to New Zealand on the other side of the world, got married, and became a mum to two amazing children. I genuinely didn’t think this would ever be possible – some of the treatments I’d received could potentially have affected my fertility. I remember thinking, if I can't have children later, I'll deal with that then – but fortunately, this wasn’t the case.
I’ve travelled to some incredible places and had countless experiences. I spend a lot of my time fundraising and volunteering. This is my attempt to give something back to all the people who helped keep me alive - the ‘superheroes’ who donated their blood, their platelets and, ultimately, their stem cells.
I will never forget that my stem cells came from a complete stranger. At the time she donated, she had no idea who I was, and I had no idea who she was. She simply joined a registry and was willing to donate if one day she was found to be a match for someone who desperately needed her help.
That someone turned out to be me.
I am living proof of what this generosity can make possible. Helen didn't just give me her stem cells – she gave me the opportunity to have a future.
And I do my best to make the most of it.
