Joy Schoor was just 14 when she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia.
Now, celebrating eight years in remission, she is paying forward her second chance at life by studying to be a doctor and encouraging the public to join the registry of potential stem cell donors.
“I was returning with my parents from a holiday in the Kruger National Park when suddenly I started feeling sick and developed a fever.
At first, doctors thought it could be a common infection and had to rule out malaria.
After more tests at various hospitals, I was diagnosed on January 10, 2016 – although I didn’t fully understand what it meant at the time,” Schoor, now 23, recalled.
“I have such a supportive family, and with my whole future in question, my parents heard that haematologists Dr Hannes Koornhof and Dr Pieter de Witt of Haemalife were equipped to offer the specialised bone marrow transplant procedure at the nearby Netcare Kuils River Hospital.”
As the first patient to receive a lifesaving bone marrow transplant at the hospital in 2016, it was a poignant moment when Schoor was recently invited there as a guest of honour to cut the ribbon, officially declaring the expanded comprehensive bone marrow transplant unit open, alongside the haematologists who treated her then.
For some people with life-threatening blood cancers, a bone marrow transplant may be the only remaining treatment option.
The launch of the upgraded and expanded Haemalife Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) unit at Netcare Kuils River Hospital signals more hope and an opportunity to create lifesaving awareness of South Africa’s bone marrow donor registry programmes.
“My journey through three rounds of chemotherapy was not easy. “But it is one of the reasons I was inspired to study to become a doctor.
“The warmth, compassion and kindness my family and I experienced at the unit during this difficult time in my teenage years stayed with me.
“It made me want to help others in their time of need,” Schoor said.
“I am grateful that my brother, who was only 12 at the time, was an almost perfect tissue match and he agreed to donate stem cells to me for the bone marrow transplant I needed.
“There is only a 25% chance of a sibling being a match.
“Some people can have 12 brothers and sisters, and none of them are sufficient matches.
“So I was exceptionally lucky, and to this day I can’t thank my brother enough,” she said.
Cape Times