Saving the Lives of People with Blood Cancer
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Bronagh O’Kane and Claire Forde are Senior Occupational Therapists who support a range of patients in the Haematology Department at Northern Ireland Cancer Centre. Occupational therapists help stem cell transplant patients manage daily tasks including self-care, work, leisure, and tasks at home. Bronagh and Claire share their advice on how to look after yourself during…
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Steve, can you begin by telling us a bit about your own stem cell transplant. Why did you need a transplant? I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) in 2012. I’d been feeling tired, getting breathless and having cold sweats for some time and something didn’t feel right. There was a diabetes awareness campaign…
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When 25-year-old Anie was told she’d need a stem cell transplant to treat her aplastic anaemia aged 17, she thought finding a matching donor would be easy. But her Asian ethnicity made it much harder to find a match. Anie spoke to Clare from our Patient Services team about her experience of having a haploidentical…
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Sam was only three years old when he started to experience fatigue and bruising and was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia. He was treated with immunosuppressants, but 17 years later he was also diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and was told he’d need a stem cell transplant. After his transplant, Sam has experienced graft versus host…
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Claire Mason is a senior physiotherapist at Northern Ireland Cancer Centre, working in haematology with a range of patients, including those who have received a stem cell transplant. Claire shares with us some specialist advice about managing physical health before and after transplant, as well as side effects such as fatigue, and how to take…
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In 2017, Louisa was diagnosed with leukaemia at just 12 years old and needed a stem cell transplant to survive. Thankfully, she had a match, but the treatment and recovery took its toll on the whole family. Here, Karine, Louisa’s mum, tells us how much Family Camp made such a difference. Transplant and recovery were…
