13 Jun 2024
What can you do in 10 minutes? Eat a sandwich? Check your social media accounts? Flick through a copy of a newspaper? Not a lot, but also so much more.
Give up 10 minutes of your time on Sunday June 23 and you may just provide a future to a desperate St Albans young man whose time is literally running out.
Ben Collins is like many other local lads. He went to school at St Michael’s C of E VA Primary School and then Verulam. He enjoys tabletop games like Warhammer, Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. He is a big fan of eating out, has a large group of friends and loves a fancy dress party.
But on Christmas Day 2023 Ben’s life was turned upside down by a devastating blood cancer diagnosis, a rare condition called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
His mother Katrina spoke to the St Albans Times about the day her family’s world was torn apart: “Ben was poorly about three weeks running up to the diagnosis – fevers, nights sweats and feeling generally terrible, two lots of antibiotics didn’t work.
“Then on Christmas Eve we – me, his dad and girlfriend Emma – ganged up on him and told him he had to phone 111.
“They got back to him on Christmas morning at 8am when his temperature was over 40. An appointment was made at Milton Keynes A&E for 10am and by 2.30pm Christmas Day Ben and I were told he had cancer and had we heard of leukaemia. The full diagnosis came about a week later after the bone marrow biopsy.”
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.
“We were told at the beginning that it was very complicated to treat but it was treatable. And they weren’t joking when they said it’s complicated. He had to endure four months of full-on chemotherapy. He was an inpatient for about three and a half weeks and then it was three to five times a week to Milton Keynes for treatment, blood tests, blood transfusions and bone marrow biopsies.
“When he had done the first phase of five weeks the biopsy results showed his count had gone down but not as quickly as they would have liked.
Having failed to respond sufficiently to treatment, doctors told Ben and his family his best chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant.
“To hear what he would have to go through before the transplant was just awful – more chemo and total body irradiation.
“But Ben built himself up for it and mentally found the strength to deal with it.”
Although his brothers were not a match for his rare bone marrow type, a potential donor was found on the stem cell register in Germany, only for her to break off all contact the day before Ben was due to start pre-treatment…
“All of us – especially Ben – were absolutely devastated. It’s difficult to imagine what he must have felt and that now his life was on hold for even longer.
“The worst thing was that he had to go back to MK for maintenance chemo as an inpatient for five days – this was especially tough and Ben has taken over two weeks to recover from this. He constantly feels sick and is absolutely exhausted all the time.
“But I have seen a turning point today and he has a smile back on his face. He needs to be strong for when the transplant does eventually take place so we are trying to get him to be more independent and exercise daily.”
The past few months have taken their toll on everyone, not just Ben: “He’s normally such a positive, very funny young man and always has such a good sense of humour about everything that has happened to him. This makes it even harder when he is down.
“Me and his girlfriend and brothers have had to care for him pretty much 100% of the time. The steroids at the beginning of the treatment made him so hungry he even ate through the night. It was constant feeding. Now he is at the stage where he doesn’t know if he feels hungry and what will make him sick.
“Emma has been by his side the whole way and not only has she been a power of strength for him but for me also. An absolutely amazing young lady who wants no credit for anything – she just loves Ben.”
In a last-ditch effort to find a stem cell match for Ben, his family and friends have organised a Swab Day at Old Verulamiums Rugby Club from 10am-4pm on Sunday June 23.
Anyone aged between 17-55 is invited to come along and register as a potential stem cell donor.
Katrina said it will take up about 10 minutes of someone’s time.
“They turn up, fill some forms in, do the swab and that’s it. They will then be put on the register. Obviously best-case scenario is that they are a match for Ben. To be honest, the chances are small. And we are so hoping that one of the others comes off before or soon after the event happens – the sooner the better.
“But it is about the bigger picture for us and for Ben. If someone else doesn’t have to go through what he has then that is all we can hope for.
“Four in 10 people don’t find a match – so don’t survive. And only 7% of the UK is on a register. I think normally people associate being a donor with donating body parts when you die. But this is something people can do now and they can save a life and still have theirs.
“I knew nothing about bone marrow/stem cell donating before this happened to Ben and it seems such a small thing to ask. There are a lot of Bens out there and really if what we are doing helps even one person it would be worth it.”
The family have had overwhelming support since Ben’s diagnosis, and Katrina added: “My St Albans volunteers have been absolutely amazing. I wasn’t sure if I had the strength or energy to do this, but the support has been absolutely incredible. Ben is a true St Albans boy and I also grew up there and I feel so lucky that I now have St Albans behind us and supporting us all the way.”
Last weekend Ben’s brother Joe and four family friends took part in the St Albans Half Marathon in aid of MacMillan, raising more than £10,000 towards the cancer charity.
If you’re unable to make the Swab Day, you can register online at dkms.org.uk/register_ben and donate towards the registration costs for each donor.
