I need a donor to save my life

8:57am Saturday 5th July 2008

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A DAD is asking for help to ensure he sees his two-year-old daughter grow up.

On the face of it Paul Cole, 42, of Conan Doyle Walk, Liden, appears a perfectly normal man, who looks after his wife Louise, 34, and young daughter Lucy.

It would mean so much that I've got a chance of fighting leukaemia and being a father and husband again

Paul Cole

Only his hair loss gives away the fact that a few months ago his world was turned upside down by leukaemia.

But he says four pin pricks could potentially save his life. That is all it takes to find a potential bone marrow match.

"It's the best gift a human being can give to another," he said.

"My first question would be, would you like to save a life? - there's not many people who would say no to that."

Despite his illness Paul is determined to make a difference for fellow leukaemia sufferers by raising awareness about bone marrow donation.

He also hopes to set up a clinic in Swindon to get people registered and all he would need is a hall with an adjoining room and a date.

Like 7,000 other people in the UK, Paul has been told he needs a bone marrow donation to survive.

"It would mean so much that I've got a chance of fighting leukaemia and being a father and husband again.

Paul, who works for Honda, signed himself off from work after feeling constantly tired.

After visits to his GP he ended up going to casualty department at the Great Western Hospital.

On April 9 haematologist Dr Norbert Blesing delivered the devastating blow that he had acute myeloid leukaemia.

Paul said: "He said Mr Cole, I've got some very serious news for you - do you want somebody with you?' - I thought blimey this is serious'.

"I told him I'm an engineer - I work with facts and figures so I'd appreciate it if he'd tell me straight."

Paul was told his chance of survival was 48 per cent and that the disease had advanced to 81 per cent of his body.

"I was weeks away from dying - it was that close," Paul said.

Paul's father had died from cancer in January on the same ward Paul was to be treated on so he knew how serious it was.

Paul said: "I was very confused and upset really.

"You go through many stages of depression - why me, why couldn't it be somebody else?

"It was assured to me that there's nothing I could have done."

He has to be away from home for several weeks during chemotherapy, of which he has had two gruelling sessions, and he has to be kept in isolation because his platelets and white blood cells are low so he could easily cut himself and bleed to death or die from a cold.

Paul said one of the hardest parts was wondering whether his daughter would accept him without his hair, or be frightened.

Paul said: "We asked her to rub the top of my head and then she kissed it, which was a bit of a moment really."

To be put on the bone marrow donor list Paul's leukaemia must be nearly completely in remission, but there are no guarantees that there will be an existing match.

Paul said: "We're going to fight this, we're going to get through this, it's not going to beat us."

Donating is simple

A bone marrow donation takes about four hours - blood is taken out of the body through one arm - the stem cells are removed and the blood is fed back in through the other arm.

The stem cells repopulate the bone marrow and produce new blood cells, but the donor is given an injection to boost their stem cells several weeks before.

In order to go on the Anthony Nolan Trust donor database you should ideally be between 18 and 40, fill in a registration form and give a blood sample either at a specially run clinic or at your GP.

Once on the database you may never be called up unless you are a match for a sufferer.

"People think it's broken bones, scraping and drilling - it's just four pin pricks," said Paul.

"This process is giving back lives to those with leukaemia - you are back to how you were before."

"There are small side effects - they may get flu like symptoms - it's nothing major - it's nothing like what I've got."

To find out more about donating bone marrow visit the Anthony Nolan Trust website on www.anthonynolan.org.uk or call their hotline on 0901 88 22 234.