Brother flies across the world to donate stem cells after sister told she had two years to live

Colin Gwilliam flew from New Zealand to Leeds after he was found as a perfect tissue match for sister Jenny, who has blood cancer and was told she had two years to live

A brother has flown across the world to donate stem cells to help save his sister’s life after she was told she had just two years to live.

Colin Gwilliam, 56, flew from Wellington, New Zealand, to Leeds after he was found as a perfect tissue match for his older sister, Jenny, who needed a stem cell transplant to help treat blood cancer. Jenny Gwilliam, 57, from near Malton, North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with acute myeloid (AML) leukaemia in April.

She explained: “My life was upended when I was told I had AML. I was numb with shock, I had no symptoms at all and suddenly I was being told I had two options – palliative care, with which I could expect another one or two years of life, or intensive chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

"Colin told me to try every option, so with his support, I did. So we started the process of flying blood samples across the world to reconfirm that he was a perfect match. When I found out that he had been accepted by the transplant donor team, it felt like a gift.”

When a patient needs a stem cell transplant, their tissue type must match that of the donor, making finding a match quite difficult. Siblings have a 25% chance of being a full match and are tested first.

Colin visited NHS Blood and Transplant’s Therapeutic Apheresis Services (TAS) in Leeds in June to have his stem cells collected and just two days later he watched them being infused into his sister’s blood stream, in a bid to replace her cells with new, healthy ones. The IT Manager and father of one, said: “Flying across the world to potentially save my sister’s life was a no-brainer. I would have done anything I could. There’s only 14 months between us so we’ve always been close but having gone through this process together has made us even closer. I feel incredibly lucky to have been able to help my big sister in this way and would do it all over again.”

Jenny was first diagnosed with a rare blood cancer called essential thrombocythemia in 2006. Eleven years later it developed into another firm of blood cancer called myelofibrosis which causes scarring of the bone marrow. In April 2024 it developed into acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), which is when a stem cell transplant became vital.

The donation took five hours and almost 14 million stem cells were collected – one of the largest outputs the TAS Leeds team has experienced and more than double what was needed to treat Jenny. The remaining stem cells have been stored in case any further treatment is needed. It will take up to 12 months to know if the transplant has worked.

Jenny said: “I feel extremely lucky that not only was Colin a match but that he agreed to donate for me. It felt like a big thing, asking him to leave his young family behind and fly to the other side of the world to help me out and I’m extremely grateful to him for doing so. The transplant itself was extremely simple - it was over in 22 minutes. But it’s been a long and difficult journey to get here, so having Colin and our parents by my side was the greatest support I could ask for. It was such a pivotal moment in my life.

“I’m coming out of the end of my first six months post-transplant and looking towards being able to live my life a little more normally as my immune system improves. I’m waiting to see if the transplant has fully worked, but the signs are looking good so far. Being cancer free after 18 years would be indescribable and I would have Colin to thank. What better gift could somebody give you than the gift of life? I’ll be forever grateful.”

Charlotte Blacklock-Lumb, lead nurse at NHS Blood and Transplant’s TAS in Leeds, who was a part of the team that collected Colin’s stem cells, said: “Working on the collection side, we don’t often get to hear the outcome of stem cell transplants, so to hear that Jenny is doing well and the signs are looking good, is fantastic. We are so proud of the life-saving and life-enhancing work that we do at TAS – and across NHSBT as a whole.

"We treat over 2,100 patients – and support over 250 stem cell donors - every year at our eight TAS units and knowing that you have made a real difference to every one of them, is one of the best parts of the job. It was the pleasure of the whole team at TAS Leeds to have collected Colin’s stem cells and to play that part in Jenny’s treatment. I would like to wish them both all the best for the future.”

For more information on joining the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry, visit blood.co.uk/stemcells.