DSUK - We Delete Blood Cancer

A Drumstars Student Story

"To say I wasn't expecting a cancer diagnosis was an understatement - at 31 no one ever expects to be told such a thing. At the time, I was just getting on with my life - loving my job as a youth worker, getting fit at the gym, and filling my spare time with football, snowboarding and drums! With very few symptoms, I never expected my trip to the doctors to end with being admitted to hospital and being told I had leukaemia. As my intensive chemotherapy kicked off I was given more heartbreaking news - further tests had confirmed that my leukaemia was actually what is known as Philadelphia Positive, and therefore even if I made it into remission, the chances of it staying that way were very very slim. My only hope would be a stem cell transplant.

Amazingly, there were a few matches for me on the international donor register and I received my new cells from an amazing young lady in the US. Without heroes like this, people like me and thousands of others wouldn't have that second chance in life.

My drum teacher, Scott, has been amazing in signing up to be a hero in waiting and one day might get the call to save someone's life. I would love if people reading this could do the same and also encourage their friends and family to sign up too! I consider myself incredibly lucky and am so grateful to my donor - by sharing my story I hope that others too can share my luck!"



"Lucy started drum lessons with me around the back end of October, and we have gotten to know each other really well over the past couple of months, and already we have flown through the core materials of Grade 1. When Lucy told me she wanted to do drum lessons after her diagnosis, I was totally overwhelmed and inspired by her story, even now I am so grateful to be a part of her journey. It really made me reflect on my own life and helped me appreciate how precious life really is! That's when I decided I wanted to support Lucy and others like her in this situation, so I decided I would become a Stem Cell Donor and get my name on the donor register.  

When I completed my application i realised on the website it tells you how many people have registered, and I was super shocked to find out only 9,818,171 had registered to DKMS Worldwide. That's when I realised we need to spread the word and get as many people to sign up to this as possible".

REGISTER AS A STEM CELL DONOR, Check Eligibility & Request Swab Kit, In order to register you must first check your eligibility, this check requires your location, registry status, age, health and BMI. If you are eligible to donate, you will be accepted within seconds and taken to a new page to fill in a quick form about your personal information. Once you've filled in details like your name, number and address, you are asked to check the info, read and agree to the terms of use, complete an electronic signature and click register!, Swab Kit, Complete & Return, Once you have received your swab kit through the post with a pre-paid envelope to return the samples, all it takes is a quick swab of your cheeks! You can complete your cheek sample at home, no needles, no blood... It's so easy! All you have to do is use the swab to wipe the inside of your mouth and carefully put the sample into the envelope, post it and just like that, you're one step closer to becoming a donor!, Drum Shop, DSUK, DKMS, Blood Cancer

The odds are you may never be called upon but if you are, there are two methods of stem cell donation, Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation, Non Surgical Outpatient Procedure, Blood stem cells are collected by removing blood from one arm and running it through a machine to separate out the stem cells. The blood is then returned to the donor through the other arm. Around 90% of donations are carried out using this method and it takes around 4-6 hours, bone marrow collection, surgical procedure under general anesthetic, Blood stem cells are collected from bone marrow from the back of the hip bone using a special syringe. Only around 10% of donations are carried out using this collection and it takes around 1-2 hours, with most donors returning back to their regular activites within a week, Drum Shop, DSUK, DKMS, Blood Cancer

Sign up to be a donor today! If, for whatever reason, you can't become a donor, we urge you to please donate to DKMS.

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