In September 2019, I attended St Pauls church in Blackpool to donate blood which I have done for many years. Once I had finished donating, I sat there with my cup of tea and custard cream biscuit. A person sat next to me and asked if I had registered to donate stem cells. Not really knowing much about stem cell donation I asked about it to which he told me about a blood donation charity called DKMS.
Once I got home, I looked up DKMS on the web. I was surprised to find out that every 14 minutes someone is diagnosed with blood cancer in the UK. As we know cancer doesn’t discriminate and can affect anyone, me, you or a member of your family.
So how do you donate?
Well first you need to be on the register. This was a very simple thing to do. I answered a few medical questions online and then requested a swab kit to be posted to me. Once the swab kit arrived (two days later) I took three swabs of my inner cheek. Then posted it back in the pre pard envelope. A few days later I get notification that DKMS had received my swabs, and I was now on the register.
To be honest I then forgot all about it. I received an email in November 2022 from DKMS saying I was a possible match with someone who requires a stem cell transplant. At first with my curiosity and with my non-trusting cop hat on I thought it was a phishing email
I phoned DKMS to confirm they had sent the email which they confirmed. I was asked if I was still happy to donate as it had been three years since I registered. I confirmed I was and was invited to attend a hospital either in Sheffield or London to have a medical. I chose London. So, at the beginning of December 2022, I was sent a train ticket (purchased by DKMS) to attend the London clinic. I had a medical where they took blood, had an ECG to look at the rhythm and health of my heart. Once that had been completed, I spoke with a doctor who explained the process moving forward and told me there are two ways they extract the stem cells. The first and most common is peripheral blood stem collection, basically taking them directly from your arm (just like donating blood) and the second by bone marrow collection. I was again asked if I was happy to continue, to which I agreed. I did ask who was going to be receiving my cells, but they explain they cannot give that information out at that stage. It could be anyone from a number of different countries.
A week later I received a call from DKMS asking if I was free to attend the London clinic to donate on the 20 December as this was an urgent request to get my stem cells. Of course, I said yes. I then needed to visit my GP surgery to receive some medication to encourage my bone marrow to make more stem cells. I got given five needles with a drug called G-CSF already in, and I had to inject myself each evening for five days. This is a very simple process. I get asked did I get any side effects - well yes, I did, I found I had a few aches and pains in my bones especially in my hands and fingers, nothing I couldn’t cope with. I just kept thinking what the person who needs these cells is going through. So, a little bit of feeling uncomfortable is nothing.
I was given another train ticket to London and a hotel was booked again all by DKMS so no cost to you. The day of the donation was here, I was given a bed, and a wonderful nurse named Auntie looked after me. She inserted a drip put into each arm. Your blood flows out of one of the drips, through a machine (called a cell separator) and back into your body through the drip in the other arm. You do not need any sort of anaesthetic and will be awake throughout. No pain at all. Just like giving blood. After about four hours they took the drips out and I was asked to wait whilst they counted my stem cells to make sure they had enough. About 1hr passed when I was then told they had plenty, and I could go home. I asked what happens next to which they told me, your donation is being collected by courier right now and being flown to Canada this evening. Again, no other information was given to me about the recipient.
For the next few months, I had plenty of contact with DKMS and they asked me to fill in a few questionnaires about my health and if I had any side effects. (Which I didn’t). I was also asked would I like to send a letter or card to the recipient. I got a card and sent it to DKMS who then send it to the charity over in Canada for them to give the recipient.
After about four months DKMS gave me an update that the recipient was doing well. Then it’s a waiting game. You get told that there are regulations in place that prevent you from contacting the recipient for two years. This is so the patient has time to recover and on occasion there may need to be a second donation within this time period. It is also to protect you. DKMS do not want any donors to feel pressured if the patient needs another donation.
We now get to January 2025. I was contacted by DKMS saying that the two years had no passed and would I like to share contact details with the recipient. My first thought was wow, the patient is still with us. What a strong person. I gave my details and said I would be happy to receive any details from the recipient. I was then told that the recipient was a female, a mother aged in her 50’s and lives in Vancouver Canada.
At the beginning of February, I received an email from a wonderful lady named Jennifer. We spoke for a few days, and she then stated that she was going to be travelling around Europe and would I like to meet her. Well, it goes without saying I jumped at the chance. We agreed to meet up in London on April 4, so I contacted DKMS and told them our plans. DKMS asked if they could facilitate the first meet up as they would like to promote and advertise this. We both agreed. Again, DKMS paid for train tickets and met me at the train station. I was interviewed and filmed in Chiswick Country Park. Both Jennifer and I were kept separated throughout this. All I wanted to do was meet her, but they kept us waiting whilst each of us where being filmed. They wanted to catch the first initial meeting on film. I was asked to look at Michael who works for DKMS and only when he tells me was I to turn round. I had lots of different feelings, emotions building up in me. Anticipation, excitement, worry (what do I say to Jennifer) How will a react to seeing her, how will she react. Then I get the nod, “Lee you can turn round” I turned my head and saw this wonderful human being, Jennifer. She had the biggest smile on her face, her eyes were wide open but full of tears. She walked to me and gave me the biggest, tightest hug and said, “Thank you for saving my life”. Instantly, I could feel my eyes filling up. I cannot describe the feeling that meeting Jennifer had on me. Both of us didn’t want to let go of each other. DKMS gave us a few minutes and then continued with the filming. This time with us both together. After the filming had finished, we were left alone to get to know each other. Jennifer told me about her illness that she had been suffering with. Jennifer had been battling a harrowing battle with breast cancer followed by a diagnosis of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Jennifer told me that she had been given less than a 40% chance of survival and then in December 2022 she was told she had just over two weeks to live.
To me Jennifer is an amazing, strong and wonderful person who like many people worldwide have been dealt a bad hand. For a lot of people suffering with a blood cancer their only hope or chance of surviving is a stem cell transplant. Being on the register and donating, Jennifer can now have more Christmas’s and more birthdays with her daughter and family. She has now got many more years to live.
So why have I told this story?
It’s really to make people aware of the wonderful charity DKMS. They are an international charity dedicated to fight against blood cancer and disorders. They are the biggest stem cell register in the UK and have helped over 2500 people to have a second chance of life.
It really is nothing to worry about and you will be very well looked after every step of the way. Anyone of us can get a blood cancer at any time of our lives. So having people on the register does save lives. A lot of us donate blood on a regular basis and you may be like I was, unaware of what DKMS is and how easy it is to donate. If you are aged between 17 and 55 and in general good health, then please visit www.dkms.org.uk and register.