Second bone marrow gift would be brave Aimee’s ‘best Christmas present’
TWENTY years ago brave Aimee Read, who was desperately ill with leukaemia, touched the hearts of the country.
The four-year-old was sadly battling her second bout of the disease.
Her only chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant and the selflessness of a stranger would be her only hope. Thankfully a match was found after thousands of people read Aimee’s story and joined the bone marrow register.
As a result she received a life-saving transplant.
But 20 years later Aimee, of Moorcroft Road, Edenfield, must hope that a stranger can save her life for a second time – as her bone marrow is failing and she is at risk of the leukaemia returning.
Former Haslingden High Schol pupil Aimee, who works as a nursey nurse in Ramsbottom, needs another life-saving transplant and is once again appealing for people to be tested to see if they are a match. They could be saving my or someone else’s life,” says Aimee, 24.
“I’m so grateful to every person who volunteers. If I find a donor it will be the best Christmas present.”
It is a rare, heartbreaking situation to be in. But if anyone can cope it is Aimee. She is tough – she has had to be.
Over two decades she has survived two bouts of leukaemia, a rare virus that left her paralysed so she had to learn to walk, and haemolytic anaemia, which meant she had to have a series of blood transfusions.
Tragically she has also had two stillborn babies – Hope and Charlie – with her partner Kyle Reynolds, 25.
Most people would have crumbled, but not her. Nursery nurse Aimee admits she is struggling to accept her setback but she is ready to fight.
She says: “I feel so numb I can’t cry. My parents, brother and Kyle are wonderful, but I feel like I have to be strong for them.
I can’t accept what is going on yet. I can’t believe I’m talking about myself. But in another sense I feel lucky as I’ve been so poorly in the past, but I got over it.”
Aimee’s stem cells are no longer those of her donor, and she has myelodysplasia, where her bone marrow is failing to produce enough blood cells.
Mum Wendy says: “It is quite rare for an initial transplant with such a good match to fail, which is worrying.
“The PNH specialist team at Leeds have said Aimee is their most complex patient.”
An MRI scan revealed Aimee also has a benign brain tumour that will need radiotherapy. Her best chance of survival is another bone marrow transplant.
It is a race against time but she is determined to marry Kyle and have another baby. She says: “Kyle has been my rock. I don’t know how I’d cope without him, my mum and dad and my brother.
“If I have a transplant I will have to have my eggs frozen. All I’ve ever wanted is to be a mum and have children. They said the blood transplant is urgent because of the risk of the leukaemia returning.
“I’m scared. I’ll have to have chemo and radiotherapy and be in isolation again.
“I got bullied at school because I had to wear a wig. I know I will lose my hair again.”