A blood cancer survivor has shared a heartwarming encounter with the young stranger who provided the stem cell donation that saved her life.
Alison Belsham, 57, from Newport, held back tears as she approached her donor, 31 year-old Rachel Rees, and invited her in for a hug, telling her there will ‘never be enough words’ to say thank you.
Ms Belsham was diagnosed with leukaemia for the second time in 2017, prompting a worldwide search to find a bone marrow donor.
Doctors eventually found a match on the other side of the world in Australia, where Ms Rees, who is originally from Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire, was living at the time.
Now, a video revealing the pair’s emotional meeting has been published online, and is sure to set chins quivering.
Alison Belsham, 57, (left) met Rachel Rees,31, (right) the women who saved her life for the first time
Rachel was in shock after flying from Australia to see her family who had set up the suprise visit
Donor Rachel was found after a global search but is from just a couple miles down the road from Alison but now lives in Australia
The clip shows Ms Belsham expressing her appreciation to Ms Rees, saying: ‘I now get the chance to live a full life, spend precious time with my children and see my grandson grow up.’
Ms Rees flew home from Australia expecting to visit friends and loved ones in her hometown.
But unbeknownst to her, her family and her stem cell recipient arranged a surprise get-together for the pair to meet.
The transplant Ms Belsham received used Rachel’s healthy donor stem cells to replace her own cancer-causing cells. Since then, she has been cancer-free.
The women are hoping their story will encourage more people to sign up to the register and help in the fight against blood cancer.
‘My initial treatment involved five rounds of chemotherapy, which appeared to be successful,’ Ms Belsham said.
‘After a year and a half in remission however, I had a phone call to say that my cancer had returned.
‘The news was absolutely devastating for me and my family as the future, once again, became uncertain.
‘My doctor explained to me how important it now was to find a donor because a stem cell transplant was the last hope of saving my life.’
Around a quarter of a million people are living with blood cancer in the UK, with over 40,000 being diagnosed every year.
While some can be successfully treated with chemotherapy and surgery, for other patients, this treatment can wreck the body’s ability to make new and healthy blood cells.
Alison and Rachel (center) with their two families in Wales
In these cases, patients will need a stem cell transplant — special cells produced by the bone marrow that can turn into different types of cells.
Despite over 40 million stem cell volunteers across the world, three in ten patients will not find a suitably matched donor.
‘I am so proud of her, proud of her recovery, proud of her tenacity and I am just so thankful that she reached out to meet me,’ said Ms Rees.
‘I am so glad to see Alison happy and healthy, having our families meet has been so, so special.’
Head of the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry, Christopher Harvey, said: ‘Blood cancer patients around the world face a daily, and increasingly urgent, search for a suitable stem cell match.
‘The requirements for matching a patient with a donor are very specific, but the opportunity to find a life-saving match increases as more volunteers sign up.
‘If you’re 16-30 from a Caucasian background or 16-45 from a black, Asian, mixed race or minority ethnic background, you could be the one person in the world who could be the match.
‘That’s why we are urging more people to sign up to our Registry and help people like Alison in their greatest time of need.’
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