Parents of Sleights man with rare blood cancer 'remaining positive' for stem cell match
45 year-old Peter McCleave has Myeloma
The parents of a Sleights man, who has a rare blood cancer, says they are not losing hope in finding a stem cell match for him.
45 year-old Peter McCleave was given a prognosis of seven years after being diagnosed with Myeloma in 2017 and he is currently in year six.
His parents have been speaking to Greatest Hits Radio's Karen Liu:
His mum, June, said: "He has been receiving chemotherapy and the drugs in that time have really moved on, so there are things available to him now that weren't when he was first diagnosed.
"He's got stem cell donor matches for 20 people. Our feelings generally are that we've always remained positive because it's the only thing to do to support him, Jen and the boys. We're also proactive by doing lots of things that draw attention to blood cancer.
"He doesn't always tell us everything. Every now and then we do find out that he isn't in a good place. The fight goes on. His paraprotein levels, which is the cancer in his blood, they go up, they come down but when they go up then it's an anxious time because you think 'are the drugs not working?'
"Even though he looks well and he tries to be very positive, there's always this undercurrent and concern for the future but we have to be positive because we've been given six years and it's a gift. A lot of people with cancer don't have six months."
His dad, Mike, said: "Although the chemotherapy is keeping him alive, we don't know how long for.
"Peter find out that there's a research team at Newcastle University, looking in-depth at the Myeloma cancer cell and how they can genetically engineer some tricks of the trade to fool the cancer and they're hoping to get a drug out of it.
They are encouraging people to come forward as they could save Peter's life particularly those who are mixed race. Mike added: "Having that mixture of European, Asian and Spanish genes it's a bit difficult. The stem cell matches for people who are just one race is a lot reasier, so we're trying to get people from an Asian and Southern European background to sign up to the register as well."
They are also trying to raise money to fund the research at Newcastle University.
June has written a book and has raised over £1,000. You can find it on Amazon with all proceeds going towards the research.
You can also visit the DKMS website to send a swab to see if you are a stem cell match for someone who needs help.