Story
This October, Nic and I will be raising money for Bloodwise and dragging ourselves for 26.2 miles, around the streets of Dublin.
A very close friend of ours, Roo / Alastair is battling at the moment and it's seems the least we can do. It is charities like this that give support to their families and help with research so this battle can be won.
The easiest way to explain why we are raising money is for us to let Roo tell his story in his own words.
In March I was diagnosed with high grade (aggressive) Mantle Cell Lymphoma (blood cancer). It is a ‘generally’ treatable but incurable cancer and one that the medical world still don’t know the cause of, even though it’s more than 25 years since it was given its own name.
I was “stage 4” with 25+ diseased lymph nodes in my neck, 45+ in my pelvis, 90%+ infestation of my bone marrow and a 40% enlarged spleen. Oh, and it was in my kidneys & liver ...
Sounds all very scary doesn’t it? Well, the only reason it was detected is that I went to my GP on 5th Jan as I’d found a lump the previous day half the size of a 5p ... I HAD NO OTHER SYMPTOMS!!
(Worried about a lump? Get in checked out now!)
He did a fantastic job of referring me and I was diagnosed on 1st March. I started the ‘Nordic Protocol’ (high dose chemo) within 10 days and I had that every 3 weeks until mid-July.
Good news came in early August in terms of remission but in reality this is not like achieving remission in other cancers ... Mantle Cell Lymphoma needs to be constantly treated and kept at bay.
As such I have just completed the first of 2 stem cell transplants (SCT) at Barts in London ... the first was an ‘autologous SCT’ (my own cells being put back in after freezing) and the next one (more scary...) will be an ‘allogeneic SCT’ (a donor’s cells).
I fully owe it to others to prove how a tiny little lump can be hiding something so sinister - indeed, this is why some lymphomas are known as silent killers. I was specifically told that if I had done nothing I would have presented as anaemic by late March / April and they would not have been able to diagnose till June ... and due to the aggressive nature of Mantle Cell I would not have lasted a year.
Right, here’s where the justifiable £££ request comes in ... blood cancers desperately need more money for research and there’s nothing better you can do (for all our sakes!) than donate to Bloodwise (www.Bloodwise.org.uk)
Thanks all for reading to the end and here’s to appreciating your loved ones and the things you love in life as, trust me, I appreciate everything so much more now
A very close friend of ours, Roo / Alastair is battling at the moment and it's seems the least we can do. It is charities like this that give support to their families and help with research so this battle can be won.
The easiest way to explain why we are raising money is for us to let Roo tell his story in his own words.
In March I was diagnosed with high grade (aggressive) Mantle Cell Lymphoma (blood cancer). It is a ‘generally’ treatable but incurable cancer and one that the medical world still don’t know the cause of, even though it’s more than 25 years since it was given its own name.
I was “stage 4” with 25+ diseased lymph nodes in my neck, 45+ in my pelvis, 90%+ infestation of my bone marrow and a 40% enlarged spleen. Oh, and it was in my kidneys & liver ...
Sounds all very scary doesn’t it? Well, the only reason it was detected is that I went to my GP on 5th Jan as I’d found a lump the previous day half the size of a 5p ... I HAD NO OTHER SYMPTOMS!!
(Worried about a lump? Get in checked out now!)
He did a fantastic job of referring me and I was diagnosed on 1st March. I started the ‘Nordic Protocol’ (high dose chemo) within 10 days and I had that every 3 weeks until mid-July.
Good news came in early August in terms of remission but in reality this is not like achieving remission in other cancers ... Mantle Cell Lymphoma needs to be constantly treated and kept at bay.
As such I have just completed the first of 2 stem cell transplants (SCT) at Barts in London ... the first was an ‘autologous SCT’ (my own cells being put back in after freezing) and the next one (more scary...) will be an ‘allogeneic SCT’ (a donor’s cells).
I fully owe it to others to prove how a tiny little lump can be hiding something so sinister - indeed, this is why some lymphomas are known as silent killers. I was specifically told that if I had done nothing I would have presented as anaemic by late March / April and they would not have been able to diagnose till June ... and due to the aggressive nature of Mantle Cell I would not have lasted a year.
Right, here’s where the justifiable £££ request comes in ... blood cancers desperately need more money for research and there’s nothing better you can do (for all our sakes!) than donate to Bloodwise (www.Bloodwise.org.uk)
Thanks all for reading to the end and here’s to appreciating your loved ones and the things you love in life as, trust me, I appreciate everything so much more now