Alex Nicholson, 24, of English-Greek Cypriot origin, urgently needs a lifesaving stem cell transplant to treat his blood cancer.
He was only 18-years-old when on April 8th, 2016, he was diagnosed with a blood cancer called Classical Hodgkin’s Lymphoma 4B; he began feeling unwell around 5 months before the official diagnosis.
Alex, from Basildon, Essex, was a music technology student at Palmers College, USP College in Grays, Essex, and was studying for his exams when he was diagnosed and began treatment. He has sadly relapsed six times after two failed stem cell transplants, a trial drug failure and endless chemotherapy sessions.
Alex undertook chemotherapy sessions and received the first stem cell transplant in November 2016 using his own cells. There was only a 50 per cent chance that using his own stem cells would work and devastatingly, it didn’t.
He then relapsed in January 2017 and the cancer returned. The consultants contacted the register for stem cell donors but were unable to find a match for Alex. The keen musician continued with his chemotherapy treatment until June 2017 and received his mum’s stem cells, with only a 50 per cent chance that it would work. Sadly, his mum’s stem cells also failed and Alex’s cancer returned for a fourth time.
On 27 January 2020, Alex was given a trial drug aimed at helping cure his cancer, but after three days, he became unwell and the drug didn’t work.
He went through a year of remission from June 2020 to August 2021 and recently Alex was told by his consultant that his Hodgkin’s Lymphoma has returned and is sadly incurable.
Alex is of English and Greek Cypriot heritage and may need to rely on donors of mixed heritage to donate their stem cells.
The Leukaemia Cancer Society is appealing to anyone aged between 16 and 55 who shares the same heritage as Alex or is full English or full Greek/Cypriot, to register as a donor. You can do this by visiting The Leukaemia Cancer Society’s website – www.leukaemiacancersociety.org. After registering, a swab will be sent to you, where you simply swab inside your mouth and send it back to the charity. If you’re a match, you’ll receive a call on how to give your stem cell or bone marrow – and it could save someone’s life.
It’s an easy procedure – Blood is taken from one hand of the donor, it goes through a separator machine where the cells needed for the patient are taken, and then it goes back through the other hand. The cells taken are replenished within a couple of days, so there is no risk to the donor.
Androulla Stylianou, Co-ordinator at the Leukaemia Cancer Society said, “Becauce Alex is of mixed heritage, Greek and English, the likelihood is that it’s someone from that heritage that will match him. But that does not mean that we don’t want just fully Greek people or fully English people on the register, because the match could be anybody – Greek, English, or a mixture of both. So we’re appealing to that group of people. This is Alex’s last chance. He has no other chance unless he finds a stem cell donor soon.”
Alex, a young man with everything to live for. Could you or someone you know be that lifesaving match he desperately needs?
“Alex is hanging on waiting for that last chance, waiting for the match to come forward,” Androulla added. “The more people that register, the greater the possibility of finding a donor for Alex.”
Every 20 minutes, someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer – those that affect the body’s bone marrow, blood or lymphatic system – such as leukaemia, myelome or lymphona. Yet, just 2% of the UK population is registered as potential blood stem cell donors. People from Cypriot, Greek and mixed ethnicity backgrounds are under-represented as donors.
Diversifying the register is extremely important to people from our community.
For further details on how to become a donor or for more information on the charity, visit the aforementioned website or contact Androulla Stylianou, Co-ordinator at the Leukaemia Cancer Society on 07872 633 508 or 020 8374 4821.