A loving brother has flown across the world to donate stem cells, to help save his sister’s life

Monday, 23 December 2024 14:29

By Karen Darley

after she was told she would have a maximum of two years to live without treatment.

Colin Gwilliam, flew from Wellington, New Zealand, to Leeds, in June this year, after he was found as a perfect tissue match for his older sister, Jenny, who needed a stem cell transplant to help treat blood cancers.

The 56-year-old visited NHS Blood and Transplant’s Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) in Leeds, to have his stem cells collected and just two days later, watched them being infused into his sister’s blood stream, in a bid to replace her cells with new, healthy ones.

Jenny Gwilliam, 57, from Malton, was diagnosed with a rare chronic blood cancer, essential thrombocythemia (ET), in 2006.

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