This week we hear a remarkable story from Morven, a fourth year English student here at St Andrews. It’s the story of how a stranger selflessly donated his bone marrow and saved the life of her dad, Malcolm. Now, Morven is involved with St Andrews Marrow Society to help raise awareness, fundraise, and most importantly, sign students up to the Anthony Nolan register to potentially give someone else a second chance at life.
Morven was still in high school when her dad was diagnosed with Leukaemia, a time that she describes as a bit of a blur. After some courses of chemotherapy her dad went into remission for two years, but unfortunately the cancer returned. Doctors told the family his best chance of survival was a bone marrow transplant. They tested his brother but he unfortunately he was not a match, so Malcolm then relied on selfless strangers on the Anthony Nolan register. Eventually he was informed that a match had been found for him!
The bone marrow transplant is done by IV and Morven recalls that “it looked like a saline drip – nothing special. You wouldn’t think it was a life-saving procedure!” There were a few complications following the transplant, but thankfully they were resolved. One interesting element of the process is that it often changes your blood type. Although the donor remains anonymous to the recipient for the first two years, Morven’s family fondly called him “Mr A+”, in reference to his blood type (the only element of information they had). After a year Malcolm and the donor, who they now knew as Steven, were able to correspond in anonymous letters through Anthony Nolan. They discovered they had many shared interests, and that surprisingly they were both alumni of the University of Aberdeen!
In December 2014, five years after the transplant took place, Steven and Malcolm finally met in person. They went to Waterstones for coffee and wandered around, chatting about their lives and their experiences with Anthony Nolan. Soon after, their families met each other too, spending an extended 5-hour lunch in Nando’s in quite an emotional state, as Morven puts it. She says that it was just so lovely that they all seemed to get on so well, as there was no guarantee that they would get on.
L-R: Steven and Malcolm
Earlier this month, Morven’s family went to support Steven in a play in Aberdeen, and then went out for drinks afterwards. Steven offered Malcolm a small gift, which he wasn’t expecting and had nothing to give in return. As Morven says, “What do you buy the person who’s saved your life?!” The gift was a small University of Aberdeen key ring with ‘From Mr A+’ engraved on the back, a token of their incredible relationship.
Throughout the interview, Morven repeated that she didn’t really know how to put the experience into words. As an English student she says she always tries to phrase things eloquently, but in this case she stressed that words simply can’t describe “how amazing it all is!”
St Andrews Marrow Society organise monthly recruitment clinics to sign students up to the Anthony Nolan register, as well as bake sales and other fundraising events. You can find them on Facebook here!