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In July last year my world was rocked when my Mum was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, it came as a real shock to me, my family and friends as she's always been so healthy and active! Nevertheless once she came to terms with the illness my mum saw it as a challenge that she would have to overcome. So the mission to get mum better was on.......
Mum was admitted into hospital and onto a course of treatment which involved mainly chemotherapy, she initially did 5 blocks of treatment lasting from July to December 2012. Unfortunately at the end of this block my mum got some more bad news from the doctors that the chemotherapy wasn't effective... The doctors also decided that mums only chance was if she underwent a Bone Marrow Transplant, but these don't just happen overnight and it can take up to 6 months to find a donor and sometimes you may never find matching Bone Marrow for the patient, which could be fatal! So with all this in mind the race was on to find a Bone Marrow Donor for mum and with no more treatment available to Mum she was eventually let out of hospital after 6 long months of tests and treatment at 4pm on Christmas Eve! Certainly will remain a Christmas to remember!
The New Year brought some good news and mum was given a life line and offered the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial with a new drug Blinatumomab... But still no news of a successful donor match!
The trial carried with it some significant risks, however risks that my parents thought were worth taking, mainly as the trial drug wasn't tried and tested however with a lot of faith, a big helping of trust coupled with good luck my mum enrolled and signed up for the trial. Mum conducted 2 cycles of the treatment each of 6 weeks duration, by taking part in the trial she was able to undertake a lifestyle at home rather than in hospital albeit a little restricted, however the trial drug was much less intrusive than chemotherapy. After both cycles my mum was considered to be in remission, it had worked much to our relief, the cancer cells were under control. During her treatment on the trial drug my mum got some more good news... They had found her a donor and the process of the Bone Marrow Transplant took place in June 2013
Mum had to go through the process of a Bone Marrow Transplant as without it the cancer cells would just keep on coming back, Blinatumomab had got mum to the point where the cancer cells were under control and manageable and it was safe enough to start the process of the Bone Marrow Transplant, without access to the clinical trial the road for my mum would have been much more difficult and potentially fatal for her. This was great news for us all, however my mum still had a long way to go before she can say she has beaten the Cancer.
To start the Bone Marrow Transplant she had to spend 6 weeks in isolation in hospital and was only allowed 2 separate visitors for the whole time, within this time they had to strip away my mums existing bone marrow by a series of treatments. But again mum beat the odds and got through it. The main risk from the transplant was GVHD Graft Versus Host disease this is where the new bone marrow from the donor wants to reject Mums Main Organs, fortunately there wasn't major reactions and after another couple of months in hospital building my mum back up to strength she was let hope to recover further. At 100 days from the transplant the doctors did a bone marrow test to see if the leukaemia had been eradicated... We got the results back and again I felt like my world had been turned upside down, just as everything was looking up the test showed that mum still had Leukaemia! The results showed she still had some refractory cells (cells that are not responding to treatment) in her system, unfortunately the new bone marrow wasn't strong enough to attack the refractory cells. So we dusted ourselves off picked mum back up and remained positive as a family that we would see this through. Mum went back into hospital again on another course of treatment but unfortunately unable to go back onto the Blinatumomab (these trials really are so hard to get onto and it's so important that I raise as much as I can so people can get the treatment they need). After her treatment ends to try and get rid of the refractory cells she will be given a fresh set of mature cells that hopefully will be strong enough and mature enough to attack any further cells and get rid of the Leukaemia once and for all!! Mum is still fighting 18 Months on from being diagnosed, this is a long time and in this time the amount of money spent on treatments and test and all sorts has to be covered by someone....
This got me thinking, with that in my mind I decided that I wanted to raise money for the research and care of people with Leukaemia and also to raise awareness about what it takes to treat such an illness, I wanted to do my bit so that more people could have access to new drugs or clinical trials. Currently only 6% of Blood Cancer patients have access to clinical trials which is a really low figure, for some patients like in my mums case the Clinical Trial is sometimes the last option, if my mum wasn't in that 6% she might not be with us today.
So I thought what could I do to raise money for charity, being a GB swimmer, swimming as always been a massive part of my life and my family's life, with my mum having a massive part to play in me getting to the position that I am in today, I thought it would be fitting if the event I organised was related to swimming. I have always had big dreams and love a challenge and with this I was no different, I thought and decided that I wanted to break a Guinness World Record (100 x 100 relay) in aid of charity in particular Leukaemia and Lymphoma research.
The Record attempt will take place on the 1st of February 2014 at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. The challenge itself will involve a relay team of 100 different swimmers each swimming 100m so that's 4 lengths of your local pool if its 25m. The Record Currently stands at 1hour 37mins 53secs, which is an average of 58.7 seconds per swimmer, thats less than 14 seconds per length.
The record attempting team will be made up of past and present GB international swimmers, past and present GB Olympians along with National standard club swimmers, swimmers from the City of Sheffield Swim Squad and other clubs around the country, along with people who are close to me in my life as I especially wanted the record to have a community feel to it and that of people coming together for a great cause. Within the team will be Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth Medalists.
Along with the World Record attempt the event will also have a few other aspects to it. To start off the day and the event I will be holding a series of swim clinics which will be led by Olympic & Paralympic Coach Russ Barber and supported by Olympic, Paralympic, World, European and Commonwealth Medalists & GB International swimmers. My hope is that I can also involve children or siblings of children who have suffered with Leukaemia or receiving ongoing treatment for Leukaemia in the swim clinics. After the swim clinics the World Record attempt will take place and then to finish off the event there will be a series of fun relays with small teams made of up Companies who have supported the event, families, clubs, individuals and other Olympic athletes and Celebrities who will be supporting the day!
With your donations you will be helping to save the lives of patients with blood cancer and give them access to life saving Clinical Trials and new drugs, along with putting money into the research projects which help find and develop new drugs such as Blinatumomab. Without the clinical trial there's is a possibility that my mum wouldn't be with us today. I would like us to increase the amount of people who get access to clinical trials thus given them another chance. Lets help get that 6% higher in the hope that we can help save people's lives, we can make a difference.
Your donation could help a blood cancer patient in one of many ways
£5 allows a newly diagnosed patient to receive a supply of our blood cancer information books
£25 pays for one sample of DNA to be analysed using a micro array test, helping to identify genes linked to blood cancer
£50 funds a PhD student for one day on one of our vital research projects building on a network of expert blood cancer scientists for the future
£100 supports a research nurse for one day to help provide new treatments to blood cancer patients on one of our life-saving clinical trials
£250 is a weeks worth of essential laboratory supplies used to conduct vital research to improve treatments
£300 pays for a blood cancer patient’s DNA to be screened providing a more accurate diagnosis and helping to guide treatments
£1,000 helps to buy sophisticated equipment needed to understand blood cancers
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