Patient with everything to live for

STACY SQUIRES/The Press

HERE TO HEAL: Timaru man Troy Hardy is in isolation at the South Island Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Christchurch with leukemia holding a picture of his daughter Rose, one of his key motivations for survival.

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Troy and Andrea Hardy want this to be a survival story.

Mr Hardy is in isolation at the South Island Bone Marrow Transplant Unit in Christchurch with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia awaiting a groundbreaking double umbilical cord blood transfusion, his only hope for survival.

The chef and web designer has everything to live for, a loving wife, and two beautiful daughters, one just a year old.

"I feel positive about the future, it all comes down to not getting an infection."

This time last year he had no idea what was coming. He was working as a chef at the South Canterbury Club and enjoying being a new dad to baby Rose.

At the start of this year he started getting boils that would not heal. After a number of tests in May he received a phonecall from Timaru Hospital that changed his life. The 41-year-old had leukemia and a rare form which was normally diagnosed in elderly people and carried a high fatality rate. "I know this event will change my life. It was a complete shock to the system but I am feeling really positive. I know I will get through it."

His health insurance Sovereign has paid out for a terminal illness but he is in The South Island Bone Marrow Transplant Unit recovering from a round of chemotherapy in October.

He has just had a bone marrow aspiration from his hip bone to see what the chemotherapy has achieved. His redemption, he believes, will come in the form of umbilical cord blood which will be flown over from Europe by the bone marrow coordinator and transfused into his system, scheduled for January. The infusion replenishes his body with healthy white blood cells. With a high content of stem cells they will replicate quickly.

"The biggest risk is getting an infection because your body can't fight it. They have used this treatment around the world and in New Zealand they did do a double cord transplant on an Indian girl who was about 18 ... and she has survived."

Having gone from knowing nothing about leukemia to being in the position of not finding a bone marrow match, the Hardys want to raise awareness about the disease and the importance of joining the bone marrow registrar run by the New Zealand Blood service. "Troy is given platelets some days from donated blood," Mrs Hardy said. "Even if this article made only a couple of people donate blood or join the bone marrow register, that would be great."

To follow Mr Hardy's journey visit his self-built website: www.thistledew.co.nz

FACT FILE

Chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), is a very uncommon blood cancer that begins with mutations to the DNA of a monocyte, a white blood cell which normally acts as part of the immune system.

In CMML, myeloblasts and myelocytes (precursors to blood cells), accumulate in the marrow and organs and interfere with the normal production of blood cells.

For most CMML patients, the disease is treated with radiation or chemotherapy, bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplantation.

Troy has finished his chemotherapy. He is not able to have a bone marrow transplant because despite searching the world bone marrow database no matches close enough to Troy were found. Instead he will be given a double umbilical cord blood transplant.

After the infusion the stem cells find their way to the bone marrow, where they may start reproducing and making healthy blood cells. Patients get high doses of chemotherapy and/or radiation before the bone marrow transplant to kill cancer cells and make room in the marrow for new stem cells to grow.