Saturday 22 April 2017

So. How is MY Leukaemia doing these days ?






Well I am glad to report that so far it is behaving itself ! :-). August 15th  this year marks 11 years since my CLL diagnosis at Grantham Hospital during what i had believed to be a "routine" appointment!!

In the last 11 years I have gone from blood tests and prods every 3 moths to blood tests and check-ups every 12 months. As an added bonus I am now under the excellent care of Mr Tim Moorby,of the resident Haematology Consultants at the hospital I have worked at now for almost 21 years....so getting to my appointments is a relatively straight forward affair :-).

In the old days a decade or so ago I had to make my way to Grantham to see a random consultant {never quite sure who I would be seen by!) and the blood results would take between 7 to 10 days before they arrived at my GP surgery.....awaiting the results was a very stressful situation believe me !

So. I will be 51 in May, diagnosed in 2006 aged 40....now 11 years on...hopefully this little resume will give a bit of encouragement to anyone who is newly diagnosed.....i wish i could have read something like this early on in my journey because fear (and insomnia) had to be the worst aspects in the early years.

As my good friend (Sadly now departed ) Geoff Brocklebank told me in the dark weeks after my shock discovery..." You are more likely to die with CLL than from it".....that simple sentence was like an epiphany to me...and gave me the strength and drive to get my head in order...and to get involved in things such as this Blog. Thanks Geoff....you are sadly missed my friend, but you gave me the inspiration to get off my sorry ass and do something useful with my (new, post CLL) life  :-)

Until next time.

Andy

Can't Pay we'll take it away Delroy Anglin needs your help to find a donor







Hi folks. Ok, this is my first post in quite some time but I felt compelled to post a message appealing for folk to rally together to help a very nice guy that many of us have seen on the TV series "Can't pay we'll take it away".

Delroy always came across as the sort of chap that , given hobsons choice!, most of us would prefer to be knocking on our door in relation to "financial issues"!. He does a job as a court debt collection agent that often  attracts a lot of abuse ...which he always deals with amicably :-).

In November last year Delroy sadly discovered he had developed Leukaemia and indeed is currently in the care of the Royal Marsden hospital.

Delroy NEEDS A BONE MARROW donor IMMEDIATELY!
Can you or anyone you might know from the African Caribbean community help find him one URGENTLY?

If you can could you please contact the Africa Caribbean Leukaemia Trust via their website
Thanks people . Let's hope his search is successful :-)

Best of Luck Delroy. We are all with you my friend :-)