Mum urges others to sign up to Bone Marrow Donor Registry after own battle with blood cancer

A mother from Newport is "enjoying every single minute" with her family after a stranger for Germany saved her life through a stem cell transplant.

Simona Dubas was diagnosed with blood cancer at aged 27, when her son Lucas was just four years old.

After three unsuccessful rounds of chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant was doctors' last option. A match was found for the mother-of-one, but sadly others in need are not so lucky.

Around 30% of blood cancer patients will not find the potentially lifesaving bone marrow match they need.

Stem cells are produced in bone marrow and a transplant means damaged blood cells are replaced with healthy ones.

Simona said she feels like she has been given "a second chance at life" and is now urging others to sign up to the Bone Marrow Donor Registry.

Now fully recovered, Simona recalled how following her diagnosis she had hoped she would not need a stem cell transplant.

Simona said: "I felt exhausted, [chemotherapy] is very hard on your body and the fatigue is enormous but I still hoped I wouldn't need the stem cell transplant. I was actually terrified of it."

While in hospital, Simona was on a ward where others were being treated following stem cell transplants. She said the thought of having a transplant herself was terrifying as she saw those patients were very ill and had to stay in hospital for long periods of time.

"I just couldn't imagine not being able to go out and see my family and stay in the hospital for many weeks," she explained.

"But then when I found out [there was a match], I actually felt a mixture of emotions.

"When I thought about being left with just chemotherapy I felt very vulnerable, there is a chance of relapse.

"So it was a kind of relief that I was going to have the stem cell transplant - as well as being very nervous and scared."

Six months elapsed from the time of Simona's diagnosis to the day of her transplant. Despite that period of time being incredibly stressful and "hectic", Simona knows she was lucky.

She said: "There are people who have to wait much longer to find a suitable match.

"I was very lucky and some people don't have that, some people have to live in fear of not getting a match."

"It was an incredibly feeling to know that there is a lady in Germany, who is almost my age, who had those same kind of cells as me.

"And she could give me hers, to give me a second chance in life."

Simona said her life is now "getting back to normal" and she has just started returning to work after several years off recovering from her treatment.

"I'm enjoying my time, I'm enjoying the time with my family, I'm enjoying every single minute of my life and it's a touch of bliss," she said with a smile on her face.

"It's an amazing, amazing feeling to be able to enjoy that - to be able to do the stuff I couldn't for such a long time and just to be here."

She is hoping more people will sign up to become bone marrow donors and help give other families that same second chance.

She said: "I would love to emphasise how crucial it is to register and how easy it is to register.

"You can do it either by donating blood or you can go on the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry website and order a swab kit, which is sent to you by post. You just do the swab, send it back and you can be in the registry.

"You may be called, you may be a match to someone, you may never be a match but the more people who register, the more patients can find that match."

She added that a transplant is often "the only chance, it's the only option" for many blood cancer patients, which is why it is so important.

Across the world, over 50,000 patients a year hope to find a suitable bone marrow match from an unrelated donor.

Dr Keith Wilson, a Consultant Haematologist at the University Hospital of Wales, said: "Blood cancers stop bone marrow from working correctly, and for these patients, the best hope of recovery is to receive a stem cell transplant.

"A stem cell transplant replaces damaged cells with healthy ones and is often the last treatment option for blood cancer patients following radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

"However, only 25% of patients will find a donor within their family.

"The vast majority rely on unrelated volunteers to have any prospect of recovering from their illness.

People aged between 17 and 30 can find out more information about how to sign up to the Bone Marrow Donor Registry via the Welsh Blood Service's website.