Dad who travelled half way around the world in search of a life-saving donor 'did everything'

ITV Granada Reports Correspondent Mel Barham travelled over to Macau with Pete who is searching for a life-saving stem cell donor.

A father-of-two with blood cancer who travelled more than 6,000 miles to the other side of the world in a bid to save his life says he can now look his sons in the eyes and say he "did everything".

Pete McCleave, 45, was given seven years to live after being diagnosed with myeloma in 2017.

The dad, from Bunbury in Cheshire, was told he could extend his life with a stem cell transplant, but he has struggled to find a genetic match because of his mixed heritage.

Now, seven years on he is in a race against time to find the perfect match - with his mix of Macanese, Irish and English meaning discovering the compatible tissue type is extremely difficult.

How do I become a stem cell donor?
Pete was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called multiple myeloma in 2017 Credit: Pete McCleave

In an attempt to help, Pete made the journey to Macau, a small country off mainland China, in the hope that the community could offer his best chances of finding a stem cell donor.

The former Portuguese colony, 40 miles from Hong Kong, is the most densely populated place in the world and known as the gambling capital.

It is the mix of Chinese and Portuguese which Pete needs, with his grandmother Lucille Da'Costa born in Macau to a Chinese mother and a Portuguese father, while his grandfather was from Northern Ireland.

Pete travelled to Macau to attend a gathering of Macanese people called The Encontro. Credit: ITV News

Pete travelled more than 6,000 miles to attend Encontro - an event that happens every four years, where Macanese diaspora return to the country for a week of cultural celebrations.

Pete's aim was to encourage people of Macanese heritage at the event to sign up to the donor register - in the hope one of them may be the match he needs to save his life.

To do so he spent time speaking with those attended, as well as making a keynote speech on the final day of the event.

“I genuinely feel I couldn't have done anymore," he said. "That’s what the last seven years have been all about. I know now I can say I did everything I possibly could.

“If I don’t find my match at least I know I played the odds, but that was never the most important thing, it’s been a foil for a much broader conversation about health and equality.

“To find my match would be a game changer - seven years this has been a part of my life, and it will be unbelievable to get that phone call.

“I can now look my sons in the eyes and say I did everything. It was all about buying me time, whatever happens, what more can you say?”

Pete made a keynote speech to 1,400 people, telling his story and the need for more to sign up to the stem cell registry.

"It could literally be life extending, it could be that important," Pete added.

"I don't pin all my hopes on it, but it's the best chance I will have of finding that potential genetic twin from that region. I am very, very aware that this blend of Chinese, Portuguese, Irish and English is super, super rare.

"But even if I don't find a stem cell match, it will genuinely allow me to say to my family, if the worse were to happen, I did everything I possibly could do.

"Even just walking through the airport, coming into customs in Macau, my whole mindset around the trip is not changing but I'm acknowledging there is a much more to it, there is a greater depth to it.

"I'm almost coming full circle back to the consultant where he said 'you should be able to find a match, you're white European', and me looking at my wife Jen and shaking my head and we both knew full well it was never going to be that easy."

Lucille da Costa, Pete's grandmother, was born in Macau to a Chinese mother and Portuguese father. Credit: Pete McCleave

Those who met Pete in Macau were amazed by his story.

Speaking to ITV News, one man said: "After the initial goosebumps, I feel compelled to my absolute best to help him out.

"To try to do what I can to find a match for him, or at least some kind of connection which might get him a step closer.

"I think he's also in the right community, we're a very loving and welcoming community. We will all try to do our best to help, even though I only just met him yesterday!"

Another added: “Take the test, it might save this man, and I think that’s a really powerful thing for a person to feel that you made a change in someone’s life.”

Following his diagnosis Pete launched the campaign 10,000 donors to get more to join the stem cell register.

So far more than 108,000 potential donors have signed up, with 23 life saving matches found - but none of them a match for Pete.

There are currently 2,000 people in the UK waiting for a stem cell transplant.

For those of white European heritage, there is a 70% chance of finding a match, but for those who are black, Asian or from an ethnic minority, the chances fall to more like 30%.

For people like Pete, who are mixed heritage, the chances are even slimmer again.

More than 108,000 potential stem cell donors have signed up, with 23 life saving matches found Credit: 10,000 donors

For Pete, an event like Encontro offers the chance to speak to some of the 1,400 people, with similar genetic makeup to him, who could potentially be the match he has waited seven years to find.

"I was just coming in and assuming it was going to be a case of telling people about stem cells and this is the aim, this is how you do it, the things I've done so often in the seven years," he said.

"But that wasn't the only thing that was going on, it really was sort of opening a can of worms around my own family heritage and history, its connection through people who are very familiar to me.

But enormity of speaking at the event's closing ceremony is something that has weighed heavy on Pete.

"I thought I knew what I was going to say and now I don't. It's really challenged me on an emotional level. I've tried not to be in this position because it's not comfortable.

"This is the one chance I will have to connect, and I've got to walk the tightrope of not guilting people, but on the other hand the pragmatist in me realises that if there was someone else was sat here, it would feel like that person would be wasting the opportunity to connect personally.

"If there's one thing I've learnt about the Macanese it's that family and connection is everything. Everyone wants to know who my Grandmother was, had they met her, perhaps they're a cousin, maybe they know a cousin.

"It's wonderful. Everyone wants to know if it could be them, could they be the match."

Macau is off China's southern coast

Despite travelling half way around the world, Pete says he remains realistic, but it was something he had to do.

"I'm honest with myself about the chances," he added.

"But if I didn't do it, if I didn't take advantage of this opportunity, this literally once every four years get together of people, I don't think I could look at myself or my family and say I did everything that I possibly could to try and bridge that gap.

"And I think that's what makes it worth trying.

"And it will also help me to genuinely, were the worse to happen, make peace with that moment and say I did everything I could do."

He continued: "It's time, you can't put a price on time. Everyone has their reason for fighting for something, and my family is my reason."

Pete McCleave with his wife Jenny, and sons Max and Sebastian Credit: Pete McCleave

Pete's cause first came to the public's attention after his, then eight-year-old, son Max wrote a letter pleading for others to join the stem cell registry.

It began the 10,000 donors campaign - in a bid to find a match for Pete, but also for others - including Patrick Languzzi, from Boston, who had a 3% chance of surviving blood cancer before he found a donor from a stranger who lives in Chorley - Alex Christopher.

Pete is currently in chemotherapy which is keeping him stable, but it won't cure him, that is the aim of the stem cell transplant.

Visiting the casino-capital of the East is the last roll of the dice for Pete

Pete's wife, Jenny McCleave, said finding a match "would be life-changing."

"There is obviously that constant worry that it is going to come back with a vengeance, which it could do any day," she said.

"But because he is so fit and well and healthy at the moment, if he was to find a match now, it would be fantastic because his body would be able to take it."

In about 90% of the cases the stem cells are taken from the bloodstream - just like giving blood. The donation takes 3-5 hours on one or two consecutive days. No surgery is necessary, you can usually leave the clinic the same day.

  • Am I missing stem cells after the donation?

The body reproduces the blood stem cells within about two weeks. The procedure of donating them is comparable to a blood donation, and does not lead to a permanent loss of stem cells.

  • Who can donate?

If you are aged between 17 and 55 years and in general good health, then you may be able to register as a blood stem cell donor. If you register when you are 17, you will not be able to donate blood stem cells yet, but on your 18th birthday, you will automatically be activated in our database and included in the global donor searches.

There is much more information on stem cell donation on the DKMS website here. Find out more about Peter's campaign 10,000 Donors, and how to sign up to the stem cell donor register here.

Missed Mel Barham's special reports from Macau with Pete McCleave? Catch-up below.

Part one:

Part two: