10 years ago, I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and was admitted into the Beatson Hospital to begin treatment cycle 1. This was an initial 5 week stay in hospital during which I would get chemo and then recover my immune system before getting out for a week and then return to go through the same again for 4 cycles.

In July 2016 after two cycles of chemo, I was told that I’d need one of my two sisters to be a match for a stem cell transplant as chemo alone wouldn’t cure me. Luckily my sister Paula was 100% match

On 30th August 2016, I had my stem cell transplant - my own malfunctioning stem cells were killed with chemotherapy and I got 5 million of Paula’s stem cells.

Within 2 weeks these new stem cells were grafted onto my bone marrow and producing perfect blood cells. A miracle of science

It was a harrowing time but it was made much more bearable by the Beatson Cancer Charity who provided a place to spend time away from the ward, the Wellbeing Centre, as well as a hairdressing service to shave off my hair when it started falling out, a wig service and therapeutic treatments such as Massage therapy and even Reiki

I also had help from their Employee Support team when my employer didn’t provide me any support and in fact treated me poorly.

Every year the Beatson Cancer Charity organise a walk called ‘Off The Beatson Track’ which starts at the Riverside museum and goes through the West End, past the Beatson Hospital, up to Anniesland and then makes its way back via the canal and Kelvingrove Park

‘Team Kirsteen’ is a group of 20 of us who are walking on the 10th Anniversary of my stem cell transplant to raise funds to help the Beatson Cancer Charity continue to provide support to the people going through cancer treatment

If anyone would like to sponsor our team it would be greatly appreciated