Margot, a couple of weeks before she died…
Two days after our daughter, Margot died, a home pregnancy test confirmed that Vicki & I were expecting another child. It was late October 2014.
with Digby, during this summer – he often resembles Margot & regularly reminds me of her
Digby celebrated his second birthday a few weeks ago and later this month he will be older than Margot ever was. If she were still alive, Margot would now be five years old.
Today marks the beginning of Blood Cancer Awareness Month, which is a calendar entry that I wanted to share because I had little or no idea what blood cancer was, let alone what a bone marrow or stem cell transplant was, until after Margot was diagnosed with leukaemia.
Nor had I ever given much thought as to how I might help blood cancer patients or indeed help provide for the many other patient conditions that have a regular need for red blood cells and also platelets throughout treatment, in order to stay alive and clinically well.
It wasn’t until Margot arrived in intensive care at Great Ormond Street Hospital during the early hours one morning, in perilous condition and urgently in need of platelets and red blood cells to simply stand a chance of survival, that for me, the penny finally dropped.
I’m hopeful that by me writing this, it won’t be necessary for others to have to witness their own sick child or a loved one in desperate circumstances, before taking the decision to go online and sign up as a potential bone marrow donor and to start donating blood.
As I wrote a couple of years ago, if you’re anything like me, spare yourself the shame and take positive action during this Blood Cancer Awareness Month.
You will be helping to save a life and like me, I suspect you’ll also discover how good it feels.
Team Margot
Together, saving lives
FIND OUT HOW YOU CAN SAVE A LIFE.
WHAT’S INVOLVED WITH A STEM CELL OR BONE MARROW DONATION
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STEM CELL TRANSPLANT AND A BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT
HOW TO REGISTER
BECOME A BLOOD DONOR
REGISTER AS AN ORGAN DONOR
Husband to Vicki and father to Oscar (2007), Rufus (2008), Digby (2015), Humphrey (2017) & Margot (2012-2014)
Team Margot’s mission
To help save and improve lives by educating, inspiring and motivating people, especially from ethnically diverse communities, to register as blood, organ, stem cell and bone marrow donors and to provide a range of support to families caring for child cancer patients.
Team Margot also provides secretariat support to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethnicity Transplantation and Transfusion.