‘When people see me, they think it’s me’: Carolyn shares her wig library experience
For most patents, hair loss associated with chemotherapy is only temporary. Carolyn Jenkins is one of the few who lives with permanent hair loss as a side-effect of her treatment. When her friend recommended that she visit the Tracey Scone Wig Library, she hadn’t expected to find such a wide of colours and styles that […]
Why Colleena treasures the gift of life
After successfully undergoing two bone marrow transplants for Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) in 2003, Arrow Director Colleena Presnell has spent over a decade supporting patients with a Gift of Friendship. Colleena shares her inspirational story with John McNamee in Go55s.
When a carer becomes a life saving donor
Sarah Clarke was just 23 years old when diagnosed with grade 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in 1988. Diagnosed with Myelodysplasia just over a decade later, Sarah underwent a stem cell transplant at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, in 1999. Following her own transplant, Sarah encouraged her husband and carer, Michael, to register as a bone marrow donor […]
Colleena’s Gift of Friendship
His name was Mischa, a Romanian Gypsy Prince, he assured us. He played the piano like no one I had ever heard before. Skipping from one piece to another, whether classical or musical theatre, he knew every musical score ever written yet he could not read music and had basic education. Mischa spoke six languages […]
From Transplant to Twins!
An extract from the speech that Julie Soon gave at the Allan Frenkel Foundation’s 16th annual fundraising dinner party on the 20th June, 2015. Julie is a mother of twin boys, a corporate lawyer, an Arrow director and a past bone marrow transplant patient. What are some of the goals you’ve set yourself recently? At […]
Serina Dosen’s story
In August 2002, at the age of 29, Serina Dosen discovered that her flu like symptoms were actually Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML), a life threatening blood cancer that strikes around 900 Australians each year. Today, twelve years after receiving her life-saving bone marrow transplant, Serina still faces the emotional challenges associated with permanent hair loss. […]
The Balfour family
“If my daddy didn’t have a BMT he would never have known me, and I would never have known him”. On 26 June 2007, my husband, Mark, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), he was 37 years old and we had a 6 and half month old baby girl and a 6 year old […]
Paul Seshold and Life Cycling
In February 2012, I started getting difficulties. Nothing terribly sinister: tiredness from time to time, mouth ulcers and then the most painful thing of all for a keen cyclist – a boil on the backside. Finally in late March I had a blood test and was in St Vincent’s Hospital the next day, getting chemotherapy […]
Tracey’s story
Written by Tracey’s mum, Robyn Cross. When my daughter Tracey was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1998 at age 38, I had not heard of that type of cancer, but her father had died of a glioma, tumour of the brain, in 1976, and the name filled me with dread. Her stepfather and I lived […]
Lisa Cuthbertson wins big at the World Transplant Games
Arrow director and past bone marrow transplant recipient, Lisa Cuthbertson, returned from the World Transplant Games with a tally of 4 gold and 2 bronze medals, also surviving a protest against her zippered ‘Thorpedo suit’. She’s since bought a new one! Lisa’s story: Whether from Iceland or Italy, Canada or Kenya, one thing unites participants […]
‘A Love Story’ by Clare Froggatt
A letter from Rome
By John Fitzsimon Just over 37 years ago I learned about leukaemia. The hard way. I was a 17 year old schoolboy with no experience of illness or accidents, nor any pointy medical instruments beyond the occasional dentist needle and drill! At that time my main thoughts were on what I might do once I […]