Little did Mikyla Winchcombe imagine when she was in the depths of her cancer journey that she would one day be working for one of the key players in her survival.
Being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia at 21 was not an ideal way for Mikyla to welcome in her twenties.
A blood cancer where excess of immature white blood cells or myeloid line of blood-forming cells is made by the bone marrow, the leukaemia set Mikyla on a journey of repeated chemo treatments and lengthy stays in hospital.
“I had four rounds of chemo at Waikato Hospital and basically, because my cancer was so aggressive, I also needed a stem cell transplant,” she says.
The best bet for a stem cell match is usually a sibling but sadly Mikyla’s brother was only a half match.
“If they couldn’t find anyone else from the bone marrow donor registry, they would have used him but it is quite risky to do a half match so then they went to the international donor registry.”
Thankfully a match was found in Germany and Mikyla was able to receive the stem cell transplant that saved her life.
In New Zealand, blood donors can ask to join the NZ Bone Marrow Donor Registry and an extra tube of blood is taken for tissue-typing tests and entered into a national database.
The New Zealand Bone Marrow Donor Registry is part of a worldwide network of registries which contain over 40 million unrelated volunteer donors and cord blood units.
Now in remission, Mikyla is grateful to all the parts of the healthcare system that assisted in her recovery.
Taking on the role donor relations co-ordinator with the NZ Blood Service provided the perfect opportunity for Mikyla to work for one of the services that kept her alive.
“Each round of chemo wiped out my bone marrow. Bone marrow produces red blood cells that carry oxygen, white blood cells that prevent infection and platelets that control bleeding. The outcome of no bone marrow for a patient’s life is almost always fatal.”
To counteract this and help get Mikyla strong enough to have the stem cell treatment, she required regular
blood transfusions.
Mikyla Winchcombe
“I would need whole blood to top me up every few days. It made a huge difference. On days where my haemoglobin levels were low, I couldn’t get out of bed. The days where I would receive a transfusion would mean I would be able to stand without getting dizzy, have a shower and feel a bit more me again.”
Mikyla’s also required regular platelet transfusion to boost her depleted platelet count.
“Platelets stop you from bleeding out, basically they clot the blood. I would get blood noses and then I’d have a platelet top up and the same process would repeat about every two days and same with the blood. If it wasn’t blood one day it was platelets or sometimes it was both when I was really sick, and sometimes twice a day.”
After Mikyla had her stem cell transplant, the donor cells kicked in and took over her immune system, and now her body is producing its own platelets and new red blood cells.
Like many people, before her brush with cancer, Mikyla thought most blood donations were used on accident victims and the like.
“So, for me it wasn’t a case of bleeding out from a car accident. It was literally just keeping me alive and every single person on the cancer ward or the haematology ward is the same.”
The NZ Blood Service collects approximately 106,000 whole blood donations, 110,000 plasma donations and 18,000 units of platelets and 26 per cent goes to cancer patients.
“Everyone knows someone who has or has had cancer. So, if that’s not a reason to donate, I don’t know what is,” Mikyla says.
Having being on the side of needing blood to now promoting the service to new donors and maintaining relationships with current donors, Mikyla is in a good place to talk the talk.
“Over the course of my treatment, I received over 70 units of blood and platelets. And not only that, New Zealand Blood has joined forces with the bone marrow registry. For both parts of my journey, the chemo and stem cell transplant, I couldn’t have done it without them. They were a huge part of my journey. They literally saved my life. So, it’s very full circle, where I’m at right now.”
