14 Jul 2024
It’s the news hundreds of people across St Albans have been waiting for – leukaemia patient Ben Collins has received the bone marrow transplant he so desperately needed to save his life.
But it was a tense and complicated process, as the vital treatment relied on another donor from Germany – just months after a previous volunteer dropped out of the process.
Fortunately this time round the procedure was completed without a hitch on Thursday evening, and the former Verulam School pupil is now recovering in hospital.
His mum Katrina explained: “It was all incredibly stressful and last minute. Because of this Ben didn’t want to share the news until it was in his arm and as a family this was the best decision.
“There was always another possible German donor, but obviously this made us incredibly nervous after what happened before and it wasn’t exactly straight forward. “But on Tuesday July 2 it was confirmed.
“Ben was admitted at 11.30pm on the Wednesday and started pre-transplant treatment on the Thursday. Three days of chemotherapy, a day off on Sunday and then on Monday he had total body irradiation – brutal radiotherapy – for four days, twice a day. He finished that on Thursday at 5pm and then at 7.30pm he got the magic transplant!”
It was just over six months since he received his diagnosis for a rare blood cancer condition called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on Christmas Day 2023.
Aged just 24, with a loving family and girlfriend and an exciting career working for London advertising company EssenceMediacom, he then faced a rollercoaster ride of physical and mental endurance as doctors battled to save his life.
After the previous German donor broke off contact the day before Ben was due to start pre-treatment, his family and friends organised a Swab Day at Old Verulamiums Rugby Club in a bid to find a potential stem cell donor and raise awareness of the urgent need for more people to register.
More than 500 people personally and a further 1,000 registered online to take part in the Swabbing Day, but ultimately Ben’s donor came from a different source.
Having spent more than half a year desperately hunting a donor for Ben, in the wake of Thursday’s treatment Katrina said it was a very strange feeling to be on the other side: “It only took half an hour, so no time at all. I don’t know what we really expected but his dad, his girlfriend Emma and myself – plus the nurse – sat in silence as the transplant happened. Just like receiving blood or fluid.
“He’s got a very tough road ahead, particularly the next few weeks and he’ll be in hospital for about four to six weeks while his body goes from have no immune system to starting again. It’s going to be a long road now to full recovery.”
Katrina says she will be continuing her campaign to encourage more people to register as stem cell and bone marrow donors.
“The stress of waiting for it all to happen and even the wait for the stem cells to get into this country was awful. It makes the work that everyone has been doing to spread the word about more people registering to be a donor even more important. I would hate this all to stop now because Ben has his match. There are so many more people like Ben out there and it would be a good thing to keep this going.
“Thank you for all your help in sharing Ben’s story – it really has been such a good focus and as they say at DKMS, every person that has swabbed could save a life!”
To register, visit DKMS.org.uk
