A woman from Gomersal, Yorkshire is urging young people to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell donor register, after receiving a life-threatening aplastic anaemia diagnosis.
24-year-old Abigail (Abbie) Inwood recognised unusual symptoms during the final year of her Fashion Design & Marketing degree at Northumbria University in 2023.
She noticed severe bruising on her legs but put this down to operating heavy machinery in the design studio. Abbie experienced extreme fatigue, but was certain this was due to over-exertion ahead of her final exams.
Abbie recalls: “I continuously looked paler, felt exhausted and appeared more withdrawn. I didn’t have the energy to complete simple tasks. I just felt like I was constantly chasing time…and my degree. Something wasn’t right.”
Her condition didn’t improve and after speaking with doctors, blood tests revealed dangerously low haemoglobin levels. She was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with severe aplastic anaemia—a serious blood disorder—in March 2023; six weeks before Abbie was due to complete the final year of her degree.
Treatments, such as ATG therapy (which prevents T-cells from attacking bone marrow and allowing it to recover), have so far been unsuccessful for Abbie and she has been told her last curative treatment option is a stem cell transplant.
A stem cell transplant is a treatment which involves giving patients new, healthy stem cells via their bloodstream, where they begin to grow and create healthy blood cells to treat disorders like aplastic anaemia and blood cancers.
In an emotional blow, doctors initially told Abbie her younger brother might be a suitable stem cell donor but later confirmed he was only a ‘half-match’ making the donation too risky. This is because the genetic mismatch would have increased the risk of complications for Abbie post-transplant.
After months of searching the global registry, so far doctors have been unable to find a suitable donor match for Abbie.
She said: “Hearing the words, ‘There’s no stem cell donor match for you,’ was devastating. It’s a moment I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
Now, Abbie is dedicated to raising awareness and hopes her story will encourage others to take the simple but life-saving step of registering as a potential stem cell donor.
Abbie’s message is clear: “If you’re aged 16 to 30, you could be someone’s hope. It’s a simple cheek swab to join the Anthony Nolan register for free, and you could go on to change someone’s life.”
She continues: “I don’t want anyone else to feel how I’ve felt… creating awareness is something I can control, which is so helpful during a time when there’s so many things out of my control. Thank you in advance to anyone who makes that first step to becoming a lifesaver!”
Sarah Rogers, head of patient involvement at Anthony Nolan, said: “Every year, amazing people like Abbie face the unimaginable reality of being told a stem cell donor match hasn’t been found for them.
“We urgently need more young people, especially those from minority ethnic backgrounds, to consider joining the donor register. Signing up is easy – after completing a short online form, you’ll receive your swab kit in the post. Swabbing takes about as long as making a cup of tea and you send it straight back to us for free. It’s as simple as that.”
Despite pressing ‘pause’ on normality for now, Abbie remains positive and focused on her ambitions in fashion design. Her condition puts her at high risk of infection, so Abbie stays busy at home mending garments for family members, going for long walks and spending time with her family, boyfriend and friends.
Abbie is talented and dedicated, with hopes of starting a career in the fashion industry after graduating with first class honours. Last year she won the Graduate Fashion Foundation (GFF) x Next Design & Trend Competition, in which she competed against the best emerging design talent from universities across the UK.
To find out how to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register or to discover more about our current patient appeals, visit: www.anthonynolan.org/abbie
People who are unable to join the Anthony Nolan register, or are aged 31 and over, can support the charity’s work financially. It costs Anthony Nolan £40 to add each new potential lifesaver to the register which covers recruiting a donor, collecting their sample, and analysing it to find out their tissue type.