By Brendan Rees
Just a few weeks ago, Mark was fighting for his life at the Alfred Hospital – desperate for platelet donations.
The 56 year-old Cranbourne man had been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia – a blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow – last New Year’s Eve.
Mark’s daughter, Rachael Hallett says the Alfred Hospital ran out of platelets that her dad needed to survive in January.
“His body wasn’t generating any platelets. His platelets were under 20 which means your body can spontaneously bleed and that’s what was happening,” says Ms Hallet.
But after Mark’s friends, Paul and Laureen contacted 3AW, appealing to Melbourne men on-air to donate platelets, the blood bank was inundated with donations.
“He revived several bags of HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) matched platelets; they saved his life,” Ms Hallet said.
She says her dad woke up from his coma and was now doing well since he returned home on the 12 February.
“There was a point in time where I didn’t think that I would have a dad for much longer so it was more than a relief.”
Mark, who asked not to reveal his surname, underwent chemotherapy last month, which started well but ended with complications, Ms Hallet said.
He was then put in an induced coma and placed on life support for 12 days.
“I think it started with an infection somewhere and it snowballed from there,” Ms Hallet said.
“There was quite a lot of different problems that all led to his airways being blocked and he couldn’t breathe very well,” she says.
“We weren’t sure what was going to happen.”
With a weak immune system, Mark’s platelet count continued to drop which made him more susceptible to bleeding.
“It just so happens he bled in his eyes as well. The bleeding will fade away it’s just a matter of time to see if how much scarring they cause”.
“He’s having what we hope is temporarily vision disruption at the moment”.
Ms Hallet says her dad was one of the Alfred’s first bone marrow transplant survivors, more than 35 years ago.
Since then, she said his health had been fine with no problems at all until around last Christmas when “he starting feeling a bit off”.
“There’s still more hurdles. He’s still got a way to go but it’s definitely a lot more hopeful than it was at one point.”
Ms Hallet says it’s most likely her dad will have to go through chemotherapy again.
“Dad doesn’t currently need platelets but there are hundreds of people who do,” she says.
“A lot of people don’t realise you can do more than donate whole blood”.
Platelets and plasma donations are just as important, she said.
“Leukaemia patients rely on these donations to survive”.
To donate to the Australian Red Cross please call 13 14 45 or visit http://www.donateblood.com.au/.
