John Blackston from Worsley has spoken about his sibling’s incredible donation

John Blackston (left) with his brother David in the garden at The Christie

A dad-of-three from Salford who received a life-saving stem cell transplant from his brother after he jetted in from the US has recalled the moment he was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer after collapsing at home.

John Blackston, 46, from Worsley, was diagnosed with mixed phenotype acute leukaemia (MPAL) in November 2022.

“My daughter found me at the top of the stairs and my wife rushed me to hospital,” John said. “They did some blood tests and told me I was only a couple of days away from not being here. I had sepsis as well, so it wasn’t good.”

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He underwent several rounds of chemotherapy before he received a first stem cell transplant at The Christie in April 2023.

MPAL is a cancer that affects the bone marrow and accounts for less than five per cent of all leukaemia cases.

David (left) was a stem cell donor for John (right)(Image: The Christie)

Stem cell transplants are used to treat some blood cancers. Damaged cells are replaced with healthy donor stem cells, allowing the body to produce normal blood cells again.

The donor on that occasion was a 21 year-old from Israel who was found to be a ‘perfect match.’ It was initially successful, and he returned home the following month. But just over two years later, in July last year, he began to feel uncomfortable whilst out running, and suspected something was wrong.

“I’d been doing a ten-mile run and just felt unusually out of breath,” John said. “I went to my GP to get a blood test. A few days later, The Christie rang me to say the leukaemia was back.”

John and David as youngsters with mum Shelley and dad Leslie

He immediately called his younger brother David, 42, who lives in New York with his wife and two children. David had previously been identified as a suitable donor, which is around a one in four chance for siblings, but was unable to donate at the time because of anaemia.

However he wanted to be ready if another opportunity came up, and had been working on getting his own health, including having iron infusions to raise his iron levels.

After a new round of tests, it was confirmed that David was able to donate. So in October, he travelled from the US to Manchester for the procedure at The Christie.

John (left) said ‘I know how lucky I am’

“You have a few days of injections into the tummy beforehand, but that’s about it,” David said. “It was much easier than I expected. I know it’s serious stuff, but the personality of the staff put us at ease. I take my hat off to them.”

The night beforehand they spent the night in John’s room eating pizza together. David’s cells were then collected, in a procedure which took around six hours. And he described the donation process as ‘like an out of body experience.’

“When I saw the stem cells coming out in the bag, and then the day after watched them give them to John, I didn’t really know how to react,” he said. “It was like an out of body experience. Seeing my brother have millions of my cells put into his body. Not many people get to witness that.”

John (left) now hopes to raise awareness and funds for leukemia

John is now said to be recovering well. His latest results show that 99.5 percent of the cells in his blood are from his brother’s donation.

“I’m feeling good and getting back to normal,” he said, “I’ve been out running again, doing some boxing classes, and just taking things day by day. I know how lucky I am.”

When he was growing up, John and David’s family raised over £500,000 for services in Manchester through ‘Leukas Aid’, a charity set up by his mum after a close family friend was diagnosed with leukaemia.

The funding helped to develop the specialist leukaemia ward at Manchester Royal Infirmary. He now hopes to give back himself.

“It’s strange how things come full circle,” John said. “If I can help raise awareness or support research into this rare leukaemia, that’s something I’d really like to do.”