BLOOD BROTHERS
Cancer diagnosis fired up Ally and friends to launch bone marrow donor drive
TEN years ago, brave firefighter Ally Boyle was facing up to a situation more dangerous than any blaze. Diagnosed with blood cancer, he was initially given a life expectancy of only three years – later extended to eight or more. But Ally’s firefighter and lifesaving instincts ensured he immediately started thinking about others.
He started working with the Anthony Nolan charity and decided his skills and contacts would be best put to use boosting the bone marrow donor register.
He and his friends and comrades launched a partnership with the charity to drive donor recruitment.
Ten years on, Ally is retired from the service as his health has deteriorated, but he has been proud to see that more than 14,000 people have joined the register via the SFRS drives, and to date an incredible 53 potentially life-saving donations have been made as a result.
Ally passed on the reins of the partnership to his close friend and colleague Andy Watt, and tomorrow both men will look on as a crowd of life-saving donors, volunteers and families gather at a special ceremony to mark the bone marrow anniversary.
They include heroic Oban firefighter David MacInnes, who joined the bone marrow register at a Fire Service-Anthony Nolan partnership event in Lochgilphead.
He didn’t hesitate when four years ago, he was found to be a match for Devon geologist Brett Grist, a father of three young children whose life was devastated by a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukaemia.
With an all-action lifestyle as an international explorer and geologist, climbing mountains, flying around in choppers and being shot at in the middle east, Brett, 46, spent the next morning telling his kids that their dad was facing a very serious disease, with only one chance of survival – a bone marrow transplant.
He said: “I was having recurrent infections and night sweats and was really tired. I was initially diagnosed with a tropical disease but eventually I was referred to a haematologist and one night at seven o’clock, they called me with the bad news.
“The first thing I had to deal with was how do you tell the kids. The message is to be honest, tailor it to their age, but if you’re not honest with them early on, they won’t trust the medical professionals
or anyone else later on. That’s the toughest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
Having lost a cousin to leukaemia when he was a teenager, David, now 34, knew all about the importance of the life-saving procedure. It sees specialists kill off the cancer by destroying bone marrow with chemotherapy, then using healthy stem cells from a genetic match to rebuild the white blood cell count and immune system.
So when he got the call from Anthony Nolan, he was thrilled to help out. As a donor, he would be wired up to a filter which would take the blood out of one arm, spin it high speeds to separate the crucial life saving stem cells, then pipe
it back into the other arm. The cells were than given to Brett via an intravenous drip.
He said: “They are brutally honest about the outcomes and statistics. It’s a long haul. There are blood transfusions. I had to go hospital four times a week at the start for check-ups. It’s a fairly high-risk time and recovery takes many months.”
During the first two years after a stem cell donation, the donor and recipient are only allowed to communicate anonymously, if both parties agree, and then after that period they are allowed to make contact.
Father-of–two David said that initial communication made a huge impact. He added: “One of the most important things you realise is that it’s not just one person you’re helping. You know you have saved somebody.
“But in one of his letters, he said to me that his kids have still got a dad, his parents still have a son and his wife still has a husband.
“When you see that in black and white, you realise it’s a whole family affected by it. That’s a very emotional thing to read.”
Last year, the two men met for the first time. David said: “It really hit home when I met Brett. It had felt like I just gone and given blood. I didn’t feel like a hero or anything – it’s a great feeling to help someone but it didn’t feel real until I spoke to Brett and his family.”
The two men have become firm friends and next year they are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Anthony Nolan and Bloodwise.
David, who is also holding a Blood Cancer Warriors winter ball at the Glasgow Doubletree Hilton on November 23 to raise money for both charities, has been bagging Munros to prepare, while Brett has been proving his recovery with an impressive exercise regime.
He said: “I’ve started going to the gym three or four times a week – David is pretty fit so I joke that I’ve got his good strong Scottish blood now.
“When we first met, I was really quite overcome to meet the guy who saved my life. I just gave him a big hug and said ‘thank you’. He’s very down to earth, a modest, lovely man. I feel privileged to have had David as my donor.”
“All the guys I’ve met, like David and Andrew Watt and Ally Boyle, at the Anthony Nolan SFRS partnership have been really awesome.”
Ally Boyle is full of gratitude and respect for the 53 donors such as David, the 14,000 registrants and the fire service and charity bosses who helped along the way.
The SFRS team have also pioneered school visits and recruitment since the donor age was lowered to 16, and the education programme has been such a success it’s now mirrored across the rest the UK. Ally was forced to retire five years ago, and is now fitting in charity work when he is able.
His illness has been worsening, but he’s currently in the holding pattern of trying to leave it as long as possible before going for the transplant, as his specialists hope for new advances in treatment which can improve his chances. A stem cell transplant still seems to be his most likely option but no matter what happens, he’s been thrilled to see so many others get that chance of life thanks to the work of Scots firefighters. MBE Ally, whose daughter Jessica is 12 and was just a baby when he first fell ill, is well beyond the milestone of his initial prognosis and fights for his life and the lives of others every day.
He said: “We always say at school presentations that bad things happen to people and it’s about finding a way to use that bad thing to help others. It’s all about resilience and teamwork and is in the finest traditions of the fire service. Our purpose is to save and improve lives.” ●For more info, visit https://www. anthonynolan.org/sfrs-and-anthonynolan-1
David’s fit, so I joke I’ve got his strong Scots blood BRETT GRIST