Emma's story

Emma Rae is alive today thanks to a stem cell transplant pioneered at Barts and The London. She has fought cancer three times and her treatment options were running out when she became one of the first patients in the UK to undergo the new type of transplant.

Emma, 21, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia when she was 15. Over the next few years, she had intensive chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant. Her cancer returned a third time in 2006 and doctors at Barts and The London suggested she take part in a pilot study of a new approach to transplantation, especially as previous aggressive treatment meant she may not survive a standard transplant.

In the standard treatment, patients are given high-dose chemotherapy to kill their diseased blood cells and a stem cell transplant six weeks later to renew their immune system. In the pilot study, Emma had chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukaemia and a few days later had further low-dose chemotherapy as part of a ‘mini’ transplant, which suppressed her immune system so the transplanted donor cells could take hold and fight the cancer.

This new, reduced-intensity transplant is safer, shortens a patient’s hospital stay, and is suitable for a wider group of patients, including older or weaker patients.

Emma has responded very well to the treatment. “Until very recently, Emma wouldn’t have had any treatment options, but she’s now doing extraordinarily well,” explains her doctor, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine, John Gribben.

"My life is getting back to normal and I’m learning how to drive – at one point, I didn’t feel I had a future, but now I do," says Emma.

What is acute myeloid leukaemia?
Acute myeloid leukaemia is a rare type of leukaemia (cancer of the white blood cells) that affects about 2,000 adults and fewer than 100 children a year. In leukaemia, the white blood cells divide uncontrollably and prevent the bone marrow from making any healthy blood cells. Chemotherapy is the main treatment, although some patients may need a stem cell or bone marrow transplant.