Teen raising stem cell awareness
ABBIE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH TERRIFYING ILLNESS
SOUTH Shields teenager Abbie Young was just 16 when she was diagnosed with a terrifying illness which left her forced to isolate for 18 months during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, two stem cell transplants later, she’s spoken out about her “horrendous” ordeal with severe aplastic anaemia and is hoping to raise money and awareness for the Anthony Nolan charity.
Abbie, a pupil at Harton Academy, is working with her teachers to fundraise – and has even been leading assemblies to talk about how Anthony Nolan helps manage the stem cell donor registry and helps sick people find transplants.
She told the Sunday Sun about her scary ordeal.
“It was in early 2020 and I went to the doctor – but it was just for something completely unrelated, I had thought,” she said. “But when mum mentioned to the doctor how easily I bruise, they sent me for a blood test.
“The next morning, we woke up to an ambulance outside the front door. They thought it might be leukaemia so they sent us to the RVI.
“It was horrible. They didn’t know what it was and they brought in specialists to follow up. After that they were able to say it was aplastic anaemia. It’s basically having faulty bone marrow.”
Because of the impact this had on her immune system, Abbie was forced to spend time in an isolation room at the RVI while waiting for treatment. Luckily, in May 2020 she was able to get a stem cell transplant, but the first attempted failed.
“I had the first stem cell transplant in the first week in May,” she said. “We found out it had failed and went home for a few weeks then had the second stem cell transplant in June.”
After that, while she recovered and the coronavirus pandemic continued, Abbie needed to isolate, and missed out on lots of school
“Because my immune system was so compromised I had lots of problems to deal with,” she said. “When coronavirus was everywhere and everything shut down I was shut in the house for pretty much 18 months.
“Now I’m much better but because of all of this there’s lots I missed out on.
“It was really difficult. I didn’t get to see friends at an age when I just wanted to be with them. When I came out of hospital there just wasn’t a lot to do with my days – I lost a lot of purpose.”
But almost two years on, she’s now working hard to help give back to Anthony Nolan.
She said: “I’m an Anthony Nolan Youth Ambassador and the main thing is to raise as much money as possible and raise awareness of the stem cell registry.
“We are organising raffles, non-uniform days and I’m giving assemblies. Though I’ve definitely felt nervous speaking at assemblies, it’s been really great to do.”
To support Abbie’s fundraising, visit justgiving.com/fundraising/abbieyoung4an