A man diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia was so hopeful at the beginning ...

Gordon's state of health was very poor when he was admitted to the hospital two and half years ago. If he had not sought medical help when he did he would have been dead in two weeks. Acute Myeloid Leukaemia was shocking news for him, his own family and extended family. He had only a 20% chance of surviving.

When the medical specialists advised Gordon that a Stem Cell transplant was the best and only option for a longer life he felt a huge surge of hope. He had cancer in the blood and so was eligible for this life saving treatment. His sister and brother willingly put up their hands as a possible donor and went through the tests. This is what families do, help each other out when the chips are down. John was the near perfect match and so begun a process of preparing his body for a stem cell donation. In a nutshell this is what happened, the optimal number of stem cells were taken from John one day and then the next day they were transplanted into Gordon. The two procedures went without a hitch. All was looking exceptionally positive. The family was hopeful.

Gordon was relatively well for the first year and of course continued to have regular medical tests etc. He could only be described a happy grateful man for a second chance to life. He celebrated the first year anniversary with John, everything was relatively kosher given a few minor issues related to living a very different life to the one he used to have. However, the next year has not proved to be so positive for Gordon. Unfortunately for the last year he has suffered chronic diarrhoea not being able to keep any food in his body for no more than 45 minutes. The doctors cannot find out why and have not been able to effectively treat this terrible condition. His quality of life is low.

Constant medical appointments, the cutting out of numerous melanomas and the diarrhoea have got Gordon down. He has lost a lot of his hope, he is negative, forlorn and depressed. Holidaying, visiting his own adult children and travelling is out of the question. He complains loudly. His children and grandchildren and his supportive wife keep him going.

Gordon is questioning the transplant process, he is finding it hard to express gratitude now.



Happiness to everyone.

---

Cheers

---