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A teacher who has become the 2,000th stem cell donor to a blood cancer charity has revealed how she feels "very lucky and lucky" to give someone a second chance at life. Amy Pringle, 28, from Glasgow, discovered stem cell donation when staff at her school donated blood. After learning that he was not eligible to donate blood, he was told that he could donate his stem cells.
"I knew about blood cancer, but I knew absolutely nothing about stem cell donation," said Ms Pringle.
"I joined the stem cell registry because I couldn't donate blood, but I was able to join the registry to donate stem cells.
"I signed up by reading the information online, I felt there was no reason not to sign up, and after my donation I still feel the same way."
Blood cancer charity DKMS says someone in the UK is diagnosed with the disease every 20 minutes and the current stem cell registry is not keeping up with demand, with a 50% drop in numbers. records compared to pre-pandemic figures.
Only one third of patients will find a match within their family, which means two thirds have to rely on a match with a stranger.
Ms Pringle traveled to the London Clinic in the UK capital for the procedure last week after being matched with a patient.
There is a 1 in 800 chance of being a match for a transplant patient.
“I feel very blessed and blessed to be able to donate for someone and give them another chance to survive,” said Ms. Pringle.
He also said that it had been an "emotional moment".
For a healthy donor, it's really a very small thing to give, just a few hours of their time, but for the recipient of the donation, it gives a whole new life.
“I also thought about what the patient is going through on the other end of the line.
“I hope my donation works for them and I hope they make a successful recovery from their illness and can get back to living their lives.
"I hope that one person who donates and shares their story can encourage others to do the same, and I hope that more and more people join the registry and are matched."
The teacher said she would have "no questions" about going through the process again.
“Everyone at DKMS and the clinic staff made the process so easy from start to finish and kept me informed at all times, went out of their way to help me and made everything effortless,” she said.
Ms Pringle said the donation process was "extremely easy" and she had no major side effects of treatment after donating via the peripheral blood method, which involved donating blood from one arm and receiving it in the other after it was separated the cells.
"The hospital staff were amazing and explained everything that was going on and were very attentive at all times, it really was a simple and painless process.
“I wouldn't hesitate to go through the process again.
"For a healthy donor, it's really a very small thing to give, just a few hours of their time, but for the recipient of the donation, it gives them a whole new life."
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