Will's Story

This is a story about Will who received a bone marrow transplant.

After a healthy 22 years of my life I was introduced to a blood cancer that threatened to take my life. 

On February 11th 2016 on my birthday I was diagnosed with a mixed phenotype leukaemia which was a combination of both AML and ALL. 

Will and his dog

My journey so far has been nothing short of unfathomable where I have endured multiple operations, drug changes, physical changes and lifestyle changes. 

All which could have been avoided with a better match when I had my stem cell transplant. 

The repercussions of my stem cell transplant have taken a toll on me which I will never fully recover from. 

A stem cell transplant was so important to me because simply put, if I didn’t receive one, I wouldn’t be writing this story today. 

My form of leukaemia was so incredibly rare and could not be treated with just chemotherapy and radiotherapy. 

I was in need of a donor from day one of my diagnosis. After months of searching and considerations I was required to take a punt on a mismatch donor. There wasn’t one perfect match for me on any bone marrow registry in the world. If I was to miss the window of a transplant, my leukaemia would have taken over my body and wiped me out despite getting into remission after my first chemotherapy cycle. 

The impact of more people being on the bone marrow registry would be insurmountable. So many Australians find it difficult to find bone marrow matches when it’s almost literally on our doorstep. So many donors come from Germany as they have a much more successful system at educating and informing people about registration. I’m sure many people would go on the registry if they knew how simple it is to join and how critical it is in saving lives.