Emily's story
Emily was initially diagnosed at age 20 after noticing unexplained bruises on her legs. After intense treatment and a period of isolation, Emily rang the end of treatment bell at St James’ Hospital in July after receiving the all-clear from her doctors.
‘To get the all-clear and then for it to come back, it was just horrific,’ Kirstie, Emily’s mum said. ‘She was absolutely broken, and really, really scared.’
Emily then underwent further intense treatment and was told she needed a stem cell transplant to save her life- a treatment to replace her blood stem cells with new, healthy stem cells from a suitable donor.
#Join4Emily was launched
Emily and her family worked tirelessly, sharing her story and encouraging people to join the stem cell register, as well as fundraising to support our life saving work.
Emily’s appeal had a huge impact: 1,730 number of people joined the register, and 2 have gone onto donate to patients since which is an incredible legacy.
Eventually a match was found for Emily and she is now doing well
I am 3 years post transplant and I am finally getting back to my life. My boyfriend and I have recently moved into our first house, this is huge for us. We have also been making up for lost time by going on lots of holidays, to Paris, Budapest and a cruise which is something he had planned for us before my transplant as something to look forward to.
Emily
Emily found her match, but many like her are still waiting
Every 13 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer. For many, a stem cell transplant is their last chance of survival.
If you’re aged 16-30 you can give people like Emily hope for a second chance of life.
Anthony Nolan helped in ways that I would never have imagined, the campaigns they did along with Emily’s Army was amazing. It felt surreal to me in the moment but looking back, I would not be here without them!
Emily
Make a donation
A gift of £5 a month helps build a stem cell register that gives everyone the best chance of survival.
A gift of £10 a month helps lifesaving transplants to happen – giving as many people, like Emily, a second chance of life.
A gift of £15 a month could help pay for our umbilical cord collection programme – making little lifesavers of babies only minutes old!
£15 goes a long way to helping our scientists conduct ground-breaking research that will save lives over the next 50 years.
£40 could sign up a new stem cell donor who could go on to save a life like Emily.
£90 could pay for three hours of invaluable support from a post-transplant nurse for patients and families.