Blood and bone marrow donor registry a priority for mum of son with Leukaemia

Kay Neale's son Adam was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in January, just weeks before his 40th birthday.

Adam took himself to hospital in Wagga after a period of ill-health, where he was immediately given two blood transfusions and flown to St Vincent's hospital in Sydney.

It was there he, his wife Tracy and their three young children received the heartbreaking news.

Adam was given only six to eight weeks to live and would need to start chemotherapy right away if he wished to proceed with treatment.

"It was absolutely devastating," Ms Neale said.

What should have been a happy month of school holiday activities and birthday preparations instead became a blur of specialist appointments, treatments and resulting complications.

"We'd just like to be normal again," she said.

"You take your health for granted, you really do. I think Adam's biggest worry was that the kids wouldn't know him, wouldn't remember him."

In New South Wales this year, more than 1300 people will be diagnosed with leukaemia, a type of blood cancer which develops in bone marrow.

Acute myeloid leukaemia is a rapidly progressing form of the disease, which prevents bone marrow from producing healthy blood cells.

Adam and his family have lost count of how many of lifesaving blood and platelet transfusions he's had since he was admitted to hospital.

"Without these people [who donate blood], I mean I don't know where we'd be," Ms Neale said.

Adam is undergoing another round of chemotherapy, after which he will have his fourth bone biopsy to see if he is an eligible candidate for a bone marrow transplant.

Matching bone marrow donors with patients is more complex than matching blood types, as it requires a "needle-in-haystack" search for a registered donor who is a genetic match.

Ms Neale wants people to know that donating blood, and registering to donate bone marrow "doesn't just save lives. It saves families".

When Adam was a 10-year-old, with no idea that he would one day be sick himself, he told his mum he wanted to become a bone marrow donor after their neighbour's infant son died from leukaemia.

"And now here he is," Ms Neale said.

People who wish to find out more about donating blood, or register to be a bone marrow donor can contact Wagga's Red Cross Blood Bank on 13 14 95.