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This Campaign was originally set up as a response to Yvette Gate's life
threatening illness, aplastic anaemia, and her need to find a bone
marrow donor. It has developed and come a long way since then.
However many people ask about Yvette. So below is the information
that was published on the original website about her. We hope that
you find it interesting!
Written by Yvette Gate
Well my name is Yvette Gate and I live in
Bristol in the South West of England. I have lived here since I
was small after my mum married my dad. Well he's my step-dad
really, but I prefer to call him "dad". My mum and dad are great
and they look after me very well.
 I
was born in The Gambia in West Africa and mum was born there too a long
time ago. Her name is Mary. It is very hot in the Gambia,
especially in the summer. Dad comes from somewhere a bit colder -
Scotland. His name is David. Together they are Mr and Mrs
Gate. I also have a brother called Solomon. He is two years
older than me. We all started out in very different places but now
we all live together in Bristol.
Before I became ill I went to
Parson
Street Primary School. It was a good school and is just around
the corner from where I live. It only took me a few minutes to walk there.
I had some happy years there but had to stop going in my final year when
I became ill. I was really sad about that because the last year at
primary school should be special. I had to miss out on the end of it.
I cannot go to school now because I have a very
low immune system. That means that I can catch an infection really
easily. I have my own teachers who comes to my home to teach me.
Vivienne has been teaching me for two years now and she is really lovely. She is a very good
teacher and we also get on well together. I especially like
learning French, Geography and Science. This year I have also had
an art teacher called Sara who comes once a week. I really
like art and we have lots of fun.
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Here are some of my Interests
Written by Yvette Gate
Cooking
My main
interest is cooking. I usually bake cakes or help my mum
to cook the dinner. I also like eating what I cook.
Yum yum.
My mum
taught me to cook delicious Gambian food.
I also like to
cook Jamaican food.
My mum also cooks nice Jamaican food and teaches me to cook Jamaican food
too. Our favourite
Jamaican food is Rice and Peas, but we also like Patties
and Curried Goat. I'm getting hungry just writing this.
Art
I also like
art. Sometimes I watch Art Attack on TV and that is where
I get lots of my art ideas.
Make Up and Fashion
I enjoy
putting on my makeup. I also like to make up other people
too. Fortunately, so do they.
But when I’m
doing my makeup I also like to match my clothes. I really like
fashion and sometimes I go out shopping with my mum.
We normally mix and match clothes and shoes together and we
don’t know how it’s going to turn out . But in the end it turns
out really good......... Usually.
My Computer
A more recent
hobby of mine is using my computer. It really helps me to
keep in touch with people and I have many new friends. I
like to talk to people with MSN Messenger and I do this nearly
every night.
It is a great
way to speak to my friends as I cannot go out like I used to do.
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Written by Yvette Gate
 There are four of us altogether. I
have an older brother called Solomon.
There is also my mum Mary, and my dad David. Solomon and I were born in The Gambia in West Africa and
so was mum - a
long time ago. It is very hot in the
Gambia, especially in the summer time. Dad comes from somewhere a
lot colder
than The Gambia - Scotland. He met my mum in The Gambia back in
1993 and they got married in 1994. We all started out in very different places but now
we live together as a family in Bristol, South West England.
My mum and dad are really busy. As
well as looking after Solomon and me they also run my Bone Marrow
Campaign. Before I became ill my mum used to work at
@t Bristol as a Supervisor in
the Restaurant. She has stopped work to look after me when I
became ill. Her boss is really nice and says that she can go back
to her job when I get better. That is if a bone marrow donor can
be found, of course.
Dad works at the
University of the West
of England in Bristol. He works in the House
Services Strategic Projects Department. He does things with
computers and different types of projects. He has always worked in
universities and colleges. When we first came to England he worked
at the University of London and before that at the University of Bristol.
My brother Solomon is two years older than
me. He goes to
Ashton Park School, the school
that I would be going to if I was not sick. Because of my illness
I have never been to secondary school.
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Yvette has an illness called aplastic
anaemia. She was diagnosed with this back on 18 March 2004.
A day none of us will ever forget. After having the doctors rule
out cancer and leukaemia over the previous few days, we felt relieved.
Aplastic anaemia - it doesn't sound that bad. How wrong we were.
Aplastic anaemia is the medical term for
bone marrow failure. Yvette's bone marrow does not work so she
cannot produce her own blood cells. Let me explain a little bit
more. Bone marrow produces, or should produce red cells, white
cells and platelets.
Red blood cells - carry the oxygen
around our bodies
White blood cells - help to fight
infection
Platelets - help to stop bleeding.
As Yvette's bone marrow is not producing
these cells she is dependant on regular transfusions of red cells and
platelets. Red cells about once a month and platelets every week.
After Yvette was diagnosed she
underwent various attempts to treat her illness.
Unfortunately all attempts were unsuccessful. On one
occasion she became seriously ill and had to stay in hospital
for several weeks. It was a worrying time for all.
All medical remedies have been tried
an none have worked for Yvette. Her only hope of a cure is
to have a bone marrow transplant. For that to happen there
has to be a compatible matching donor. Currently,
world-wide there is not a match for Yvette on any bone marrow
register. That is the main purpose of our Bone Marrow
Campaign.
Yvette's illness means that she gets
tired very easily. She can also bruise and bleed easily
and this can cause a serious problem, especially when her
platelet levels are low. Another great danger for Yvette
is the risk from infection. As her body cannot fight
infection, due to a very low immune system, she needs immediate
hospital treatment if she catches any infection. If her
temperature goes above 38°C then she has to be rushed to
hospital. When this happens we just hope and pray that the
hospital staff are able to treat her successfully.
Because she has so many medical
difficulties Yvette is not able to lead a normal life. She
is unable to go to school, to go out and play or to visit her
friends as she did before she was ill. Yvette's life is
now full of restrictions and nearly everything that she does do
carries some potential risk. As her family we try to look
after Yvette as best we can and to keep this risk to a minimum.
Yvette has now developed allergies
to blood products and has to have medication prior to any
transfusions that she receives. She has also accumulated
iron within her body and has to take regular 36 hour infusions
of another medication to counter that.
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You have ended up here because you wanted to
find out more about aplastic anaemia, the illness that Yvette suffers
from. It is not the purpose here to go into detailed medical
explanations. Just to give some more information to those who are
interested.
What is aplastic anaemia?
It is a serious, often life threatening,
condition affecting the blood. The bone marrow is unable to
produce enough blood cells for circulation in the body. It is also
called bone marrow failure and is a very rare acquired disorder.
Acquired means that the condition is neither present at birth nor
inherited. It can happen suddenly (acute) or develop over a period
of time (chronic). In Yvette's case it struck suddenly when she
was just ten years old.
What are the symptoms?
The most common symptom is bruising.
This is caused by a low platelet count which reduces the blood's ability
to clot. Nosebleeds and bleeding gums are common. The
medical term for low platelet count is thrombocytopenia.
Another symptom is anaemia. This comes
from a low red cell count which prevents oxygen getting to muscles.
This results in tiredness and lack of energy, lethargy and becoming out
of breath quickly and easily.
Neutropenia is the medical term for low
neutrophil (type of white blood cell) count. This means a low
immune system and makes it very easy to catch infections.
What causes aplastic anaemia?
It is thought that in most cases it is
causes by an auto-immune reaction. The body's immune cells become
confused and start to attack body tissues. In about three quarters
of cases this has no clear underlying cause. This is called
idiopathic acquired aplastic anaemia (idiopathic means unknown cause).
How common is aplastic anaemia and who is
affected?
Aplastic anaemia is a rare illness. It
does not seem to affect one race more than another and it affects male
and female equally. It can affect people of any age though it does
seem to occur more in children and people over 60years of age.
What treatments are available?
there are two forms of treatment for
aplastic anaemia: supportive management of the symptoms, and
treatment of the actual bone marrow failure.
Supportive management
This usually takes the form of transfusions
of platelets and red blood cells to correct the blood count. As
repeated tests and transfusions are usually required the patient is
usually fitted with a "central line" in the form of a Hickman line or an
implantable port. This provides a route into a major artery and
removes the need for repeated injections. This form of treatment
is supportive but does not treat the underlying condition of aplastic
anaemia.
Treatment of aplastic anaemia
There are currently two forms of treatment
available:
Immunosuppressive therapy: This
is a type of treatment which aims to reduce the number of lymphocytes in
the bloodstream that are thought to be attacking the bone marrow and
encourages the bone marrow to recover. It uses a drug called
antilymphocyte globulin (ALG) which is given intravenously over a period
of five days. There are two different types of this, one that
originates from horse serum, the other from rabbit serum. If a
patient does not respond to horse ALG then a course of rabbit ALG may be
tried after a few months.
A common allergic reaction to ALG is serum
sickness. This causes high temperatures, rashes and swollen,
painful joints. This can be uncomfortable and unpleasant but can
be treated successfully with steroids (which have their own side
affects). Yvette has tried both types of ALG treatment, neither
worked for her and on both occasions she developed bad serum sickness.
There are many medical sites on the internet
that give more details on this form of treatment. The above is
just an overview.
Bone Marrow Transplant:
Basically this aims to replace the defective bone marrow with a healthy
one. The donated bone marrow has to be a suitable match for the
patient to reduce the risk of rejection. If the patient has any
brothers or sisters it is common for these to be tested. There is
a one in four chance that a sibling will be a good match.
Another option is a matched unrelated donor
(or someone who is registered on a bone marrow register). Again it
is vital that the donor is a close match to the patient. Under 30%
of patients find a related donor in their own family. Over 70%
rely on finding a donor from the bone marrow register.
There are separate pages on this website
that deal with bone marrow and bone marrow transplants in more detail.
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