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A Rostrevor man has travelled to London to donate his stem cells to a total stranger, giving them a potentially lifesaving second chance at life, with his donation being flown to New Zealand within 24 hours.
Kai McNally, who is 22 and works in Newry, joined the stem cell register with DKMS as a teenager after closely following the Do It for Daniel campaign that tried to find a stem cell donor match for Newry teenager Daniel Greer, who sadly died of acute myeloid leukaemia last year. Kai went to school with Daniel's brother and gladly signed up to see if he could help.
A few years had passed since he joined the stem cell register, but he finally received a call from DKMS a few months ago telling him that he had been identified as a stem cell donor match for a critically ill patient who was in desperate need of a transplant.
About that first call, Kai says: "Daniel's campaign had been a big thing locally, so I knew what was being asked of me as soon as I got the call. I signed up with my friends a few years before, and I was told when I joined the register that I had particular genetics that would make me a good stem cell donor, so I'd always wondered if I'd be matched to a patient one day."
He spoke about the match with friends and family, who all remembered Daniel's search for a stem cell donor. He realised that he was able to help another family going through the same thing and was glad to be able to donate. A nurse came round to the house to take a blood sample to confirm he was a good enough match, and just a week later it was all confirmed.
A few weeks later, Kai, who loves motorsports, travelled to London to donate. He donated his stem cells through a process called PBSC, which is a simple, outpatient procedure similar to donating blood platelets. DKMS organised for his mum to fly over with him, and they stayed in a hotel near the hospital so she was there to support him during the procedure itself.
"It was all pretty simple in the end, everything went smoothly enough," says Kai. "Once I got settled in, it was easy going; the full donation was done in one day."
At this stage, the patient was a total stranger and Kai had no information about them. However, shortly after the donation, he was able to find out more about the patient who had received his cells. To his shock, doctors revealed that his stem cells had been immediately transferred to the airport, and within 24 hours they were on the other side of the world, where a patient in New Zealand was waiting to begin his transplant. There is strict anonymity for patients and donors following a transplant, but after two years they may be able to get in touch with each other.
Kai says: "It was a real surprise to hear just how far the cells had gone; it hadn't even occurred to me that the patient could be someone as far away as New Zealand. I hope he's doing well after his transplant, and it would be great to hear eventually how he's getting on."
DKMS spokesperson Bronagh Hughes says: "People like Kai who donate their stem cells are changing the lives of patients and their families, both close to home and all over the world. Someone is diagnosed with blood cancer every 27 seconds, and by signing up as a donor, you could give hope to one of the thousands of people relying on finding a match."
She added that for patients with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be their only opportunity for a second chance at life, but just seven per cent of the eligible population in the UK are signed up to the register. Every 14 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with blood cancer, and every year nearly 13,000 people die from blood cancer in the UK. At any one time there are around 2,000 people in the UK in need of a stem cell transplant.
Now Kai is teaming up with DKMS to encourage more people to join the stem cell donor registry. Signing up is quick and easy and involves some painless mouth swabs. If you are aged 17 to 55 and in general good health, you're eligible to join the register with DKMS. Anyone who wants to join the register can request a swab kit online at dkms.org.uk
