'I feel helpless waiting for a stem cell donor'

A mother-of-two is urging people to sign up to the stem cell register in the hope of finding a donor to treat her aggressive blood cancer.

Nurse Emilia Shaw, who lives with her husband Ben and two young children in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in December.

She was told chemotherapy alone would not be enough to treat it and is now relying on finding a suitable donor.

"I can't imagine [my children] only having Ben," said Shaw. "But I won't be around unless I do have the donor, so it just needs to happen."

The 41-year-old was diagnosed following a blood test at her GP practice after months of feeling tired and suffering from headaches.

"I got my bloods checked on a Monday morning," she explained.

"By teatime, I was in hospital having a blood transfusion and the very next day I found out I had acute myeloid leukaemia.

"In the forefront of my mind was that on the Thursday morning was my four-year-old's nativity play," she added.

"I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that even though I did need to be in hospital, I couldn't even just pop out for the play."

Shaw spent nearly two months at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital but was able to return home in January for a few weeks.

She will have several more rounds of chemotherapy in the coming months.

She was recently told her two siblings were not a match for her, so she is now relying on finding a donor from the global register.

Shaw added that she and her husband were both struggling during the wait.

"We both feel helpless in different ways," she explained. "I feel helpless in hospital because I can't be the mum I used to be.

"Ben feels helpless because he can't be with me in hospital all the time."

Shaw's case follows that of another acute myeloid leukaemia patient from Bromsgrove, 16-year-old Leo, who is due to have a transplant next week.

A donor was found for the teenager just before Christmas after more than 700 people joined the register following an event in the town organised with the blood cancer charity DKMS.

After the mum-of-two contacted DKMS, they helped her set up a virtual donor drive, which has led to nearly 1,000 people joining the register.

"This definitely isn't just about me," she said. "In my bay in Worcester hospital, all three of us live within half a mile of each other, all with acute myeloid leukaemia.

"All of us need stem cell transplants so it really hit home that this isn't just about me, and it's not just about Leo.

"Getting on the register is so important. It's just 10 minutes of your time...but at some point you could be that that match for someone.

"We all just want the best chance."

Stem cells are special cells that can change into other blood cells to be used to treat many different cancers, as well as immune deficiencies and genetic disorders, according to the NHS.

Most stem cells are donated by giving blood at a specialist centre, but in roughly 10% of cases they need to be extracted from bone marrow during a hospital procedure.

The Anthony Nolan and NHS Stem Cell Registry - which is formed of Anthony Nolan, DKMS UK, NHS Blood and Transplant and the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry - has more than 2.3 million registered potential stem cell donors.

The NHS says 30,000 potential new stem cell donors need to be recruited in the UK every year to meet demand.

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