25 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME COULD GIVE TRACEY & OTHERS A HEALTHY FUTURE.  

Tracey Tanyanyiwa is 21 years of age.

I'm sure that you or someone you know may have experienced grief at some point in life, perhaps  the loss of a loved one. My most memorable loss was at the age of 18, when I lost a good friend- she too had been diagnosed with Leukaemia and was on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, just weeks before her 18th birthday, her life came to an end... (R.I.P Charity).

How could someone so young, beautiful and intelligent with so much to accomplish in life have been so easily taken away, just like that? We hear endless stories of people dying due to terminal illnesses such as cervical cancer etc. and yet we live our lives believing 'It would never happen to me!'

But it did-

With my father being absent for almost 16 years of my life, I grew up an only child under the care of my mother. Moving was normal for me. I attended various primary schools although for most of my childhood I was raised in Camberwell, South London until my mother remarried in 1999 and we moved to Ilford, East London - Finally a stable residence!

I attended Beal high school where I was highly active in the sports community, playing everything from football to athletics. Sports wasn't only a hobby for me, I was passionate about it and took pleasure in representing my school in district competitions and other team sports against local schools. I continued onto 6th form where I completed A-Level Psychology, Drama and English literature.

In 2006, I went on to study Applied Criminology and Psychology at Demontfort University, however after my first year I decided Psychology was not the one for me and continued to do criminology in the hope I would go on to do something within the judicial system.

In the years I’d been there I made many great and supportive friends, learnt more about myself and had become used to being responsible for myself and no-one else. Life couldn't have been better, I was blessed to have come this far.

However, that was suddenly taken away from me...

I'd just submitted my final piece of coursework for the year, and was looking forward to a long and eventful summer ahead of me; I couldn’t believe the year had gone so quick.

Sadly, the beginning of this 'break' started off badly, as I started to feel unwell. The doctor had suggested that the symptoms were those of an ear infection. Despite being prescribed antibiotics, I started to experience dizzy spells, hot flushes, nausea and sometimes outbursts of fevers. It’s like I had no control over my body. Something was definitely wrong.

A friend took me into A&E, and I was kept overnight for observations. I was dehydrated and highly anaemic, and the doctors had discovered some abnormalities in my blood counts. The doctors explained that they had their suspicions, but the next step was to have a bone marrow test and wait for the results. Meanwhile, I waited anxiously for my parents to arrive.

On May 23rd 2008, at about 2pm, the doctors confirmed that I had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). I was immediately put on a 2 year course of chemotherapy treatment which should put the disease into remission. This means that by the end of the 2 year cycle of treatment I would be leukaemia free!

I started the treatment and all appeared to be going well, 9 months into my treatment I was preparing to recommence my university studies as I was feeling mentally able to get my life back on track alongside my treatments and medications. But having been in remission for the 1st 10 months of treatment, on the 23rd of March 2009, it was confirmed the leukaemia had returned to my Blood, this time more aggressively.

I was totally shattered, heartbroken and shocked to be told the news. My doctors have said that I will need a life saving bone marrow transplant. This is why I am now looking for a bone marrow Donor. Finding a match is my only hope of survival.

I've now been re-admitted into hospital and back on intensive chemotherapy treatment... until we find a donor.

Please help me and others like me by offering us the ‘Gift of Life’

Words written by 21 year old Tracey Tanyanyiwa

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