Nurse Emilia Shaw has been diagnosed with leukaemia and needs a stem cell transplant so she can have a second chance at life.
She is working with blood cancer charity DKMS to get more people on the stem cell donor register
This follows the recent campaign to find a match for a 16-year-old Bromsgrove boy, Leo.
Emilia is a busy mum of two from Swindon who now lives in Bromsgrove with her husband, Ben, but her mum is still in Swindon.
Emilia is a nurse and has worked in the NHS for 20 years, and is also active in the community as a volunteer and scout leader, and runs a group for new mums in her local area.
She was recently diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, and will need a stem cell transplant. She and her family are now working with blood cancer charity DKMS to call on people to register as stem cell donors, so that they can give Emilia, or others like her with blood cancer, a second chance at life.
Over the summer, Emilia began to notice she was consistently exhausted, but initially she put this down to early starts for work and with her two young boys – Henry, six, and Felix, four. However, this got worse, and she also developed pounding headaches. In December, she decided to go for a blood test at her GP practice.
“I was just so tired all the time,” said Emilia. “I would feel tired at the wheel, and I’d even fallen asleep watching panto with my boys. So I went in and got my bloods checked on a Monday morning.
"By tea time, I was in hospital having a blood transfusion, and the very next day I found out I had acute myeloid leukaemia.”
Emilia’s medical team have said that she will need a stem cell transplant. For patients with blood cancer, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could be their only opportunity for recovery.
Only one in three patients will find a match in their family; Emilia is hoping that one of her siblings will be a match, but this hasn’t been confirmed. She may need to rely on finding a match from a complete stranger who has signed up the stem cell donor register.
Emilia said: “I worked in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham for years as a staff nurse, and I’ve since been told that, if a matching donor is found for me, that’s where I’ll be going for my transplant. It’s strange to go from nurse to patient, but I know they’ll look after me.”
Emilia has been undergoing treatment since she was diagnosed, and has missed key celebrations, including her birthday, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and her son's nativity play. Her diagnosis was particularly hard for the family, as they have previously been impacted by cancer.
“It’s been tough for my husband Ben and our boys,” said Emilia. “Ben’s mum passed away three years ago after a very short battle with cancer, and then in January 2025, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time and had mastectomy and reconstruction surgery.
"Also, Ben’s dad has a chronic leukaemia, so it feels like our whole family has been affected. Knowing that the cancer I have is treatable with a stem cell transplant has meant a lot to us, and I’m hopeful that I’ll have a matching donor soon so I can get back to normal life.
"My youngest doesn’t really understand, other than ‘mummy’s blood isn’t working’, whereas my six-year-old has more of an idea of what’s going on. He mostly just wants to know when I’ll be able to come home, which was particularly tough over Christmas.”
Emilia and her family are now working with DKMS to encourage more people to register as potential stem cell donors.
Signing up is a simple process, involving just a few health questions, and some cheek swabs.
Once a person is on the register, their swabs will be tested to find out if they are a match for a patient. At any one time, there are around 2,000 people in the UK waiting for their match, but just seven percent of the eligible population in the UK are signed up.
DKMS spokesperson Bronagh Hughes said: “For Emilia, a stem cell transplant from a matching donor could give her life back. The process is very simple, it’s so easy to give someone a second chance.
"We’re supporting Emilia and her family to get people signed up to the register, all you need to do is visit the DKMS website and we can send you a swab kit in the post. You could be the match that Emilia, or someone else like her, is waiting for.”
Most people will never be called to donate, but if a person is matched to a patient, nine out of 10 times the donation can be completed through a simple outpatient procedure, similar to donating blood platelets. DKMS will support donors through the entire process.
To find out more, or order a swab kit, visit dkms.org.uk
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