Ride for Red & White to thank medical team for wife's leukaemia care
Emma Wiskin gave birth to her first child Nathaniel on her 30th birthday, in September 2009. Just nine days later she received the devastating news that she had Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Away from her husband Tony and their newborn son, Emma spent the next six months on the specialist regional haematology unit at Southampton General Hospital.
After giving birth, it was found that Emma was not recovering well, so she was sent for blood tests and was soon diagnosed with leukaemia. Taken straight from Southampton’s maternity ward to the haematology unit, treatment started the following week.
In order to recover from the blood disorder, Emma would need a bone marrow transplant to allow the production of new and healthy blood cells. Emma’s sister Beccy was tested, and luckily was found to be a match, and Emma received her transplant in March.
During her treatment new mum Emma also received four courses of intensive chemotherapy, and spent time in an isolation room, unable to spend the precious first months with her newborn son, as she would have wished. Family life was put on hold as Emma was allowed home for just five weeks over the six-month treatment period.
Emma said, “I was devastated when given the diagnosis of leukaemia, it is not what you expect when you come into hospital to have a baby. Treatment has been difficult especially spending so much time away from my son. However thanks to the haematology team at Southampton and my sister's bone marrow stem cells I can look forward to getting on with life with my family.”
Emma is now back at home and on the road to recovery and herself and Tony, both doctors themselves, are now able to make up for lost time spent with their son. However, Emma will now need to return to Southampton General Hospital regularly for follow up treatment, and her health will continue to be monitored closely by the medical team for many months to come, to ensure that the bone marrow transplant has been successful.
Keen to thank the medical staff that cared for his wife, Tony Wiskin, a Paediatrician at Southampton General Hospital, organised a fundraising cycle ride from Southampton to London in June 2010, joined by a team of ten friends and colleagues and raised over £5,000 for the Red & White Appeal.
Tony said, “I want to do what I can to say thank you for the amazing care Emma received. The unit has fantastic nurses and doctors, and they and the patients deserve the best facilities possible. Hopefully the Red & White Appeal will be able to make life a little easier for patients going through such difficult treatment.”
Emma and Tony and their friends and family continue to fundraise for the Red & White Appeal.