A YOUNG mother who may die unless a bone marrow donor is found has made an impassioned plea for people to sign up to the register, as she can not find a match.
May Brown, aged 22, from Weymouth, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, a blood cancer.
May, who is married to a British former soldier, was featured in the Echo in 2013 when she attempted to take her own life after being told she would be deported to Nigeria.
She was granted permanent residency in the UK and then came a 'miracle' after a year of 'hell'- the birth of daughter Selina, now aged two, on Christmas Day.
Although things were looking up, May and husband Michael were 'devastated' to receive her prognosis last year.
Former Weymouth College student May has been through four cycles of intensive chemotherapy and for most of her treatment she has had to be kept in isolation.
This meant spending up to eight weeks at a time away from her daughter.
After three rounds of high dose chemotherapy May went into remission and received some wonderful news in November- a perfect bone marrow donor match had been found.
But hope turned to despair when she went for the consultation just a few days before the planned life-saving transplant- the donor was no longer available.
May said: “I was crying helplessly in the hospital. I said ‘what will happen to me now? You said if I don’t get a transplant I will die. What happens now?’ They said 'you will have to go back on the register'.”
May was then told she would need a top-up cycle of chemotherapy to keep the leukaemia in remission. This meant she spent Christmas Day - her little daughter’s birthday, and New Year in hospital.
May said she had been told that the best option now is a transplant - but because of her ethnic background it is harder to find a 10/10 donor.
However anyone, regardless of ethnic background could be a potential match.
The family are reaching out to people to get registered.
May said: “All I ever wanted was a family and I may not even be there to look after my child. Time is running out. There has to be someone out there.
“I’m in remission now but time is precious. The more I wait the chance is I will relapse and it will come back in full force.”
May appealed to readers to sign up to the transplant register, she said: “For my child’s sake. I don’t want her to grow up without me."
Husband Michael, 37, said the family had been taking everything 'day by day'. He added: “Please have the test. It’s about time we had a normal life.”
THERE are two bone marrow registers in the UK- the Anthony Nolan Trust registry and the British Bone Marrow Registry. For the latter, you can sign up to be a donor when you give blood or via blood.co.uk or call 0300 123 23 23. You must be aged 18-49.
You will be asked to provide a small sample of blood to determine your tissue type and this will be kept by the register. You will be contacted if a match is found.
To become a donor for the Anthony Nolan Trust registry and you are aged 16-30, visit anthonynolan.org and simply click Join The Register.
They will send you an envelope containing a test-tube. All they require is for the prospective donor to provide a saliva sample in the test-tube and return it via post to the trust.
For help and advice on how to become a donor and how to sign up call the Dorset Cancer Centre and specialist haematologist Claire Vickerage on 01202 448218
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here