Emma Cruse, Essex
Emma was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 2000. To start with she underwent chemo and radiotherapy, which seemed to work, but then a couple of years later when Emma was in her first year at university studying to be a nurse she relapsed and was told the only way forward was for a stem cell transplant.
Emma was prepared for a transplant using her own cells. “I was one of the first people to receive a stem cell transplant from my own cells,” she explains, “but unfortunately they just didn’t take. That was a huge shock.” The only other option after this was for a transplant with donated stem cells. All of Emma’s family were tested, but none proved to be compatible.
One of the doctors treating Emma suggested to her that they should contact the Anthony Nolan Trust to see if there was anyone who would be a match on their transplant register.
“Fortunately for me,” says Emma, “there was already someone on the register who was a match for me, so I only had to wait a matter of a few weeks to get my transplant.”
In the meantime Emma had contracted a kidney infection and was very seriously ill in intensive care. “It all seems a bit surreal to me now,” she says, “because I was so ill.”
Stem cells were harvested from the donor in the north of England and brought straight down to London where Emma was in hospital. This time thankfully there were no complications and the procedure was completely successful; Emma’s body accepted the cells and new bone marrow started to grow. Because of the infection, Emma’s immune system had taken a real battering and she was in hospital for six months. “It took six months for my blood counts to get to a reasonable level,” says Emma, “and over a year for them to reach normal levels.”
“If it weren’t for the The Anthony Nolan Trust register and people who were already registered, I wouldn’t have survived,” says Emma. “I owe my life to those people who came forward as volunteers.”
Since the transplant she has gone on to complete a degree in stage management and technical theatre. Four years after completing her treatment, Emma was given the happy news that she was expecting a baby. “I was more shocked than I was when I got the original diagnosis of lymphoma,” she says. The pregnancy wasn’t all plain sailing, but all is now well and Emma is the proud mother of a little boy.
