Cheshire man who has saved 15 lives still waiting for someone to save his
Pete McCleave has been searching for a life-saving donor ever since he was diagnosed with incurable blood cancer Myeloma.
The father-of-two who lives in Bunbury, in Cheshire, was told by doctors he had just 7 years to live. His only chance of survival is a stem cell transplant, but due to his rare Chinese and Portuguese heritage, his chances of finding a match are slim. That's the reason he set up his own appeal, 10,000 donors to encourage more people to sign up to the stem cell donor register.
So far, that campaign has found 15 life-saving matches. Unfortunately none of those matches have been for Pete.
Video report by Mel Barham
During the lockdown, the number of people signing up to the donor register have plummeted. But with restrictions beginning to ease, the numbers of people needing a transplant are expected to rise dramatically. One person who signed up after seeing Pete's campaign was a former colleague and friend, Alex Christopher from Chorley. Within months of providing a cheek swab, he got the call to say he was a match for someone.
The process of donating stem cells is very much like giving blood for most people.
Pete believes now is the perfect opportunity to get more people on the donor register. With most people at home during the lockdown, there is a captive audience of people wanting to do something positive to help people. By signing up to 10,000 donors and ordering a cheek swab kit, you never know, you may be the person Pete is looking for to save his life.
The man who has saved 15 other people's lives, just needs to find someone to save his.