NATHALIE Irons
Nathalie's 10,000ft free fall page
Fundraising for Leukaemia Care
Story
Hi guys!
Me again, this time I've been a bit more daring and decided to throw myself out of a moving plane at 10,000ft. (Well, I'll actually be dragged when it comes down to it!)...
In March 2015 I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Essential Thrombocythemia, one of three Myeloproliferative Neoplasms- a set of chronic blood cancers with no cure.
I'm one of the 'lucky' three in every 100,000 that is diagnosed every year in the UK.
My particular genetic mutation is in the Calreticulin gene (CALR) and it causes my bone marrow to overproduce platelets.. The bits of your blood that form clots.
I've started to trial a new cytoreductive treatment aimed at killing cancer cells, stopping disease progression and if I'm super lucky.. Reversing the mutation that has lead to the cancer in the first place!
Without charities like Leukaemia Care these new drugs and the support for people like me just wouldn't be available. Money raised by people like you helped identify the CALR gene mutation in 2013, and is now funding research and trials into the treatment I'm currently on (interferon alpha).
There is a lot of research into Blood Cancers at the moment, and all of it ground breaking and life changing for many. The most promising of which is reprogramming a persons immune cells- launching a very specific and long lasting anti-cancer attack! All sounds very 'Knights Templar' doesn't it?! But in all seriousness, this new angle at treating cancer carries fewer side effects, which in my opinion is only ever going to be a bonus- Because anyone who knows me, knows that Wednesday's are usually a write off due to medication side effects. Or just because I'm lazy.. Depends who you are!
A few facts to tickle you into donating your hard earned pennies to this worthy charity-
1) There are currently 55 projects (worth 31.2 million pounds!!) into Acute Myeloid Leukaemia- my arch nemesis and the guy that I'll be spending my life running away from (also happens to be my boyfriends initials)
2) 12% of research investments will be going on developing treatments for my particular blood cancer (MPN)
3) A single 24 pound donation could pay for 100 patient information leaflets to be supplied to patients at diagnosis (I wish I'd had one, they're great!!)
4) 1 in 2000 are diagnosed with ET in their lifetime. Here are some other fun facts that carry about the same odds of happening (1 in 2000)- getting hit by falling space junk, dying from a slip and fall in the bath/shower, going into anaphylaxis due to an allergic reaction, the odds of hitting an ice berg at sea, being selected as an Astronaut... The list goes on.
5) Life expectancy for individuals with ET is near normal (which I'm obviously chuffed about!) but there is always the risk of progression to MF which carries a prognosis of 5-7 years life expectancy or AML.. which is just 5 months life expectancy without a perfectly matched bone marrow donor.
Much love, happiness and hope for a better future
Nathalie x
Me again, this time I've been a bit more daring and decided to throw myself out of a moving plane at 10,000ft. (Well, I'll actually be dragged when it comes down to it!)...
In March 2015 I was diagnosed with a rare condition called Essential Thrombocythemia, one of three Myeloproliferative Neoplasms- a set of chronic blood cancers with no cure.
I'm one of the 'lucky' three in every 100,000 that is diagnosed every year in the UK.
My particular genetic mutation is in the Calreticulin gene (CALR) and it causes my bone marrow to overproduce platelets.. The bits of your blood that form clots.
I've started to trial a new cytoreductive treatment aimed at killing cancer cells, stopping disease progression and if I'm super lucky.. Reversing the mutation that has lead to the cancer in the first place!
Without charities like Leukaemia Care these new drugs and the support for people like me just wouldn't be available. Money raised by people like you helped identify the CALR gene mutation in 2013, and is now funding research and trials into the treatment I'm currently on (interferon alpha).
There is a lot of research into Blood Cancers at the moment, and all of it ground breaking and life changing for many. The most promising of which is reprogramming a persons immune cells- launching a very specific and long lasting anti-cancer attack! All sounds very 'Knights Templar' doesn't it?! But in all seriousness, this new angle at treating cancer carries fewer side effects, which in my opinion is only ever going to be a bonus- Because anyone who knows me, knows that Wednesday's are usually a write off due to medication side effects. Or just because I'm lazy.. Depends who you are!
A few facts to tickle you into donating your hard earned pennies to this worthy charity-
1) There are currently 55 projects (worth 31.2 million pounds!!) into Acute Myeloid Leukaemia- my arch nemesis and the guy that I'll be spending my life running away from (also happens to be my boyfriends initials)
2) 12% of research investments will be going on developing treatments for my particular blood cancer (MPN)
3) A single 24 pound donation could pay for 100 patient information leaflets to be supplied to patients at diagnosis (I wish I'd had one, they're great!!)
4) 1 in 2000 are diagnosed with ET in their lifetime. Here are some other fun facts that carry about the same odds of happening (1 in 2000)- getting hit by falling space junk, dying from a slip and fall in the bath/shower, going into anaphylaxis due to an allergic reaction, the odds of hitting an ice berg at sea, being selected as an Astronaut... The list goes on.
5) Life expectancy for individuals with ET is near normal (which I'm obviously chuffed about!) but there is always the risk of progression to MF which carries a prognosis of 5-7 years life expectancy or AML.. which is just 5 months life expectancy without a perfectly matched bone marrow donor.
Much love, happiness and hope for a better future
Nathalie x