How Covid-19 has disrupted efforts to care for blood cancer patients – The Independent
By daniellenierenberg
On the day of his Year 10 school prom, as other students excitedly prepared for the big occasion, then 15-year-old Rian Harvey was sat in a ward of Royal Marsden Hospital, awaiting the stem cell transplant that would save his life after a leukaemia relapse.
Despite the hot weather on that day back in July 2015, his hospital room windows had to remain sealed shut, as even the smallest bug bite could have killed him due to his compromised immune system.
Six years on, he finds himself grateful that he relapsed when he did, with five years to build his immunity before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Blood cancer patients are one of the most vulnerable groups of people at risk of Covid-19, according to research, being 57 per cent more likely to suffer severe disease compared to other cancer patients.
Recalling his own experience, Rian, now 22, says: Its scary, you look at everything that person has gone through, they had blood cancer and then had a stem cell transplant, they have gone through all the stress of only to be taken by a pandemic that came out of nowhere.
I know the vulnerability that you are in for stem cell transplants, Ive been there myself. Your immune system cant take anything.
Despite the high risk these patients face, charities such as Anthony Nolan, which assist blood cancer patients with finding a stem cell match, were left out of the allocated government budget that was announced in March.
The cancellation of face-to-face fundraising and events, despite the increase in demand for services, have led their gross income to be down by an estimated 5.5m for 2021.
Henny Braund, chief executive of the charity, said people with blood cancer and blood disorders were heavily impacted by the pandemic and everyone who needs treatment and support must be able to access it without delay.
This budget does not address the pressure currently facing cancer services across the UK, he adds.
Stem cell transplants are carried out to treat conditions such as blood cancer. The process involves removing the healthy stem cells of one person and transferring them to another, provided they have a similar or identical special genetic marker called the HLA.
While this match is sometimes present between family members, it is not always the case, leaving patients in the UK reliant on the British Bone Marrow Registry to find a suitable match. The odds of a match are one in 1000.
One of Anthony Nolans primary roles is to encourage more people to put themselves on the registry so patients have an increased chance to find a match. This can be done via a simple cheek swap, which provides sufficient HLA data for the initial matching process.
Will Briant, 24, from London, donated stem cells in 2015 after signing up to be on the registry at university. I think it ultimately is a huge part of who I am now, he says. Its something that I look to in my darker moments and find great inner strength from.
The identities of donors and recipients remain anonymous to one another, but they are allowed to exchange letters after the transplant.
I was incredibly emotional when I got the letter, he adds. He made it clear that not only was I giving him the chance of time for himself, but it was also for all of his family and friends, he told me he had a very big family. Looking back now, at a time where we cant all be with our families, it just highlights just how important and valuable that must have been for him.
Apart from encouraging people to sign up to the registry, the money Anthony Nolan raises go towards funding research, offering support and information to patients and families as well as providing post-transplant-care. They have helped 18,000 people find a match.
Unfortunately, they are part of the 35 per cent of charities who used the furlough scheme offered by the government to curb the loss of income. To ensure their survival, 24 per cent of surveyed charities said they were letting furloughed employees return as volunteers.
Terence Lovell, chief engagement and marketing officer at Anthony Nolan, says: We still desperately need funds to continue our life-saving work through providing stem cells transplants and co-ordinating efforts across the NHS to ensure patients receive the care and support they need.
Despite the circumstances, Rian has decided to make the most of his time in lockdown. He regularly shares his experience fighting cancer on his social media platforms and is currently in the process of writing a book and producing a podcast to further share his message.
The cancer mill is still very much open for business and I am trying to push people, that have not necessarily been through what Ive been through, to be more positive and see the world the way that I do, he says, I wake up in the morning, open my front door, take a deep breath of fresh air and I think this is amazing because five years ago I couldnt even open a window in the hospital.
See original here:
How Covid-19 has disrupted efforts to care for blood cancer patients - The Independent
- 5 year old boy from Iraq undergoes world's first of its kind bone marrow transplantation in India - The Times of India - March 31st, 2025
- Superior outcomes of haploidentical hematopoietic cell transplantation over chemotherapy in AML patients 55 years or older - Nature.com - March 31st, 2025
- Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy Center - NYU Langone Health - March 22nd, 2025
- Bone Marrow Transplantation Market Poised to Achieve USD 14,336 Billion by 2031 - Persistence Market Research - openPR - March 22nd, 2025
- BioRestorative Therapies to Report 2024 Financial Results and Host Conference Call on March 27, 2025 - The Manila Times - March 22nd, 2025
- Man Cured Of Sickle Cell Disease In New York Thanks To New Gene Therapy - Forbes - March 22nd, 2025
- Boost in cancer treatment: PGI working on lab for stem cell, gene therapies - The Times of India - March 22nd, 2025
- Clonal dynamics and somatic evolution of haematopoiesis in mouse - Nature.com - March 11th, 2025
- Mitochondria-enriched hematopoietic stem cells exhibit elevated self-renewal capabilities, thriving within the context of aged bone marrow -... - March 11th, 2025
- TET2 deficiency increases the competitive advantage of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells through upregulation of thrombopoietin receptor... - March 11th, 2025
- Garuda Therapeutics Closes $50 Million Series A-1 Financing to Advance Off-the-Shelf Blood Stem Cell Therapies - GlobeNewswire - March 11th, 2025
- Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center and Yas Clinic first in UAE to receive AABB accreditation for haematopoietic progenitor cell collection - Abu Dhabi Media... - March 11th, 2025
- Discovery of lung-based blood stem cells may transform transplant therapies - Medical Xpress - March 1st, 2025
- VUMC part of new study validating curative therapy for sickle cell disease - VUMC Reporter - March 1st, 2025
- What Is the Role of MRD Testing Before HSCT in MDS/MPN? - DocWire News - March 1st, 2025
- Melphalan-based conditioning with post-transplant cyclophosphamide for peripheral blood stem cell transplantation: donor effect - Nature.com - March 1st, 2025
- Mesenchymal Stem Cells Market Projected to Reach USD 11.26 Billion by 2034, Growing at a CAGR of 12.9% - openPR - March 1st, 2025
- See snazzy slugs in all their luminous glory Februarys best science images - Nature.com - March 1st, 2025
- On the origin of neutrophils - Nature.com - March 1st, 2025
- Four-year-old donates stem cells to save her baby sister from blood cancer in Odisha - The Hindu - February 20th, 2025
- Effect of pre-transplant cytoreductive therapy on the outcomes of patients with MDS or secondary AML evolving from MDS undergoing allo-HSCT: a... - February 20th, 2025
- A heart disease trigger that lurks inside bone marrow - Harvard Health - February 20th, 2025
- 4-year-old donates stem cells to save sister as SCB performs first-of-a-kind bone marrow transplant in Odisha - OTV News - February 20th, 2025
- KU Cancer Center recognized for transplant that saved 1-year-olds life - WDAF FOX4 Kansas City - February 20th, 2025
- Orca-T With RIC Is Safe in Advanced Hematologic Malignancies - OncLive - February 20th, 2025
- SCB conducts Odisha's first bone marrow transplant on two-year-old - The New Indian Express - February 20th, 2025
- Bahrain's pioneering use of sickle cell disease treatment hailed by medical experts - The National - February 20th, 2025
- Cancer survivor is the first monumental bone marrow transplant patient in Baton Rouge in 8 years - NOLA.com - February 11th, 2025
- Autologous Cell Therapy Market to Hit Valuation of US$ 44.55 Billion By 2033 | Astute Analytica - GlobeNewswire - February 11th, 2025
- Nanoparticle that cuts middlemen could improve stem cell therapy - Futurity: Research News - January 31st, 2025
- GATA2 mutated allele specific expression is associated with a hyporesponsive state of HSC in GATA2 deficiency syndrome - Nature.com - January 31st, 2025
- Coordinated immune networks in leukemia bone marrow microenvironments distinguish response to cellular therapy - Science - January 31st, 2025
- How the bone marrow microbiome responds to immunotherapy - Chemical & Engineering News - January 31st, 2025
- My Experience With Stem Cell Therapy: Snake Oil or Silver Bullet? - GearJunkie - January 31st, 2025
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - StatPearls - NCBI ... - January 22nd, 2025
- Doctors retrieve stem cells from 20-month-old to treat thalassaemic sister - The Times of India - January 22nd, 2025
- YolTech Therapeutics to Initiate a Clinical Trial for YOLT-204, a First-in-Class Bone Marrow-Targeted In Vivo Gene Editing Therapy for -Thalassemia -... - January 22nd, 2025
- School of Medicine professor receives grant to study improved cancer treatments - Mercer University - January 14th, 2025
- 1st stem cell therapy, new HIV drug approved - ecns - January 5th, 2025
- Suppression of thrombospondin-1mediated inflammaging prolongs hematopoietic health span - Science - January 5th, 2025
- A pilot raced through the airport to surprise an old friend: the woman who saved his life - CNN - December 27th, 2024
- Types of Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplants - December 27th, 2024
- Explained: What is mesenchymal stem cell therapy? - Drug Discovery News - December 18th, 2024
- Stem Cell Transplants Offer New Hope for Saving the Worlds Corals - Technology Networks - December 18th, 2024
- Scientists Present Research on Novel Cancer Therapies at ASH - City of Hope - December 18th, 2024
- Navigating CAR-T cell therapy long-term complications - Nature.com - December 18th, 2024
- High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplant ineffective for patients with mantle cell lymphoma - News-Medical.Net - December 18th, 2024
- Stem Cell Therapy Market Is Expected To Reach Revenue Of - GlobeNewswire - December 18th, 2024
- The Importance of Cellular Therapy in the Clinical Case of a Young Man With a Challenging Precursor B-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia - Cureus - December 18th, 2024
- A search for the perfect match, Apex six year old in need of donor - CBS17.com - December 18th, 2024
- New insights into survival of breast cancer cells in the bone marrow - News-Medical.Net - December 9th, 2024
- Cellular trafficking and fate mapping of cells within the nervous system after in utero hematopoietic cell transplantation - Nature.com - December 9th, 2024
- Saving lives, one stem cell at a time - Texas A&M The Battalion - December 9th, 2024
- Turn Biotechnologies Announces Landmark Study to Assess Effectiveness of ERA Therapy in Restoring Bone Marrow - PR Newswire UK - December 9th, 2024
- Orca Bio Presents Three-Year Survival Data with Orca-T in Patients with Hematological Malignancies at the 66th ASH Annual Meeting - Yahoo Finance - December 9th, 2024
- You are the match. How UNC student honored her late grandfather with life-saving effort - Raleigh News & Observer - November 29th, 2024
- scRNA-seq revealed transcriptional signatures of human umbilical cord primitive stem cells and their germ lineage origin regulated by imprinted genes... - November 29th, 2024
- Atlanta pilot with an aggressive cancer finds lifesaving help from a stranger and a simple test - The Atlanta Journal Constitution - November 29th, 2024
- Researchers have brought the promise of stem cell therapies closer to reality - The Week - November 29th, 2024
- Bone Marrow Donors Can Be Hard to Find. One Company Is Turning to ... - November 15th, 2024
- Hematopoietic Stem Cells and Their Niche in Bone Marrow - November 15th, 2024
- Bone Marrow Transplant Program - Overview - Mayo Clinic - November 15th, 2024
- Bone Marrow Donors Can Be Hard to Find. One Company Is Turning to Cadavers - WIRED - November 15th, 2024
- More stem cells for sickle cell gene therapy readied with motixafortide - Sickle Cell Disease News - November 15th, 2024
- Skull bone marrow expands throughout life and remains healthy during aging, researchers discover - Medical Xpress - November 15th, 2024
- Adult skull bone marrow is an expanding and resilient haematopoietic reservoir - Nature.com - November 15th, 2024
- Evaluation of standard fludarabine dosing and corresponding exposures in infants and young children undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation -... - November 15th, 2024
- Stem cells grown in space show super powers but theres a catch - Study Finds - November 15th, 2024
- Getting a Stem Cell or Bone Marrow Transplant - October 21st, 2024
- Acquisition of durable insulin-producing cells from human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells as a foundation for cell- based therapy of... - October 21st, 2024
- 1.5 Lakh Indians Register To Save Lives: Join the Mission To Fight Blood Cancer - The Better India - October 21st, 2024
- How Stem Cell and Bone Marrow Transplants Are Used to Treat Cancer - October 13th, 2024
- Stem Cell (Bone Marrow) Transplants - MD Anderson Cancer Center - October 13th, 2024
- Donating Bone Marrow and Stem Cells: The Process and What To Expect - October 13th, 2024
- What to expect as a stem cell or bone marrow donor - October 13th, 2024
- Structural organization of the bone marrow and its role in ... - October 13th, 2024
- Stem cell donor from down the road saved my life after global search - BBC.com - September 23rd, 2024
- Awaiting the call: family hopes to find blood stem cell donor - Claremont Courier - September 23rd, 2024
- Michigan woman one of first in world to successfully receive bone marrow from deceased donor - WDIV ClickOnDetroit - September 23rd, 2024
- Next-generation stem cell transplant: Revolutionizing a lifesaving cancer therapy - The Business Journals - September 23rd, 2024
