Donate blood and give cancer patients a new lease of life
CLArE rEAD had been looking forward to her wedding for more than a year, and everything was planned to perfection. But as Clare walked down the aisle on the arm of her father, Martin, her joy was tempered with the sadness of knowing he had only a short time to live.
Two months earlier, Martin, 64, had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of myelofibrosis — a rare cancer of the bone marrow — and his health had deteriorated rapidly.
There was no cure, but twice-weekly blood transfusions extended his life long enough so he could be at his daughter’s wedding last August.
‘I knew it would be one of the last happy memories we would share,’ says Clare, 34, a solicitor from nottingham. He died six weeks after her wedding. ‘Until Dad fell ill, I had no idea how essential blood donations were as a way of prolonging life for those suffering from cancer,’ says Clare.
In fact, cancer is the main reason for a blood transfusion; almost 40 per cent of all blood donated from 2014 to 2015 was used for cancer treatment.
Transfusions are often used in cancers that involve blood cells, such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
‘Blood transfusions are essential to support patients with cancer to allow them to get through major surgery or have chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation to treat the cancer,’ explains Dr Kate Pendry, a consultant haematologist at Central Manchester University Hospitals foundation Trust.
‘They also support patients such as Martin to improve quality of life.’
Martin, a retired coal merchant from Stafford, began to feel tired last January. By April, Martin, who was 5 ft 11 in tall, had lost more than 2 st and weighed just over 12 st.
His wife rosie, 58, a pharmaceutical technician, insisted he visit their GP.
‘My parents tried to explain it as a stomach ulcer,’ says Clare, the eldest of Martin and rosie’s four children. ‘But I knew something was seriously wrong.’
In June, Martin was diagnosed with myelofibrosis, which disrupts blood cell production and scars the bone marrow. Symptoms include breathlessness, chest pain and infections.
The cure is a bone marrow transplant, but Martin’s age and the severity of his condition meant he wasn’t eligible for the procedure.
His only option was regular blood transfusions to replenish his blood supply and delay his deterioration.
Clare, who has a six-year- old son, Benjamin, and her fiancé, Simon, a chef, 40, were desperate that Martin would make the wedding.
‘Dad was going to give a speech. He couldn’t wait,’ Clare says.
Twice a week, Martin was given two units of blood at the cancer unit at royal Stoke University Hospital.
for a day after each transfusion his appetite and energy improved — he had one the night before Clare’s wedding.
‘I choked on my tears when I saw him,’ recalls Clare. ‘I felt pride and relief as he walked me down the aisle.
‘It took him a lot of effort, and by the time he signed the register he was incredibly tired. At the reception, he stayed for our first dance. when he left, everyone cried. It was so unlike Dad to leave a party early.’
Martin went into hospital with a chest infection on September 16. It turned into blood poisoning and he died the following day.
Clare, who has since given blood, is thankful for the donations that kept her father alive to see her marry.
REGiSTER to give blood by calling the Donor Line on 0300 123 23 23 or visiting blood.co.uk.