Saving the Lives of People with Blood Cancer
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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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When Donna was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009, she was worried about the impact on her young family. A decade later, Donna is back running around after her boys after having a lifesaving stem cell transplant in 2016. This is her story. When I heard the word ‘cancer’, the first thing I thought was,…
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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…
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Drew was born with a condition called Diamond-Blackfan anaemia, which results in bone marrow failure. He had a bone marrow transplant in 2014 when he was four years old, and is now a bouncy, full-of-life nine-year-old! Here, his mum Helen tells us how freeing Family Camp was for their family. We found out about Family…
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In this blog, our Science Communications Manager, Jonathan Kay, looks at how make-up products could cause infections post-transplant and the steps you can take to help reduce the risk. Picking up an infection is an understandable and realistic concern for all stem cell transplant patients because it can take some time for their donor’s stem…
