SAVED by a stranger

When Deb Wortelhock was told that she was too old for a transplant, she refused to give up until a donor was found

- JOAN MCFADDEN

I’d expected to be in hospital, but not like this. My first grandchild was due and I’d promised my daughter, Katie, 24, I’d help as her birthing partner along with her husband Geraint, also 24. Instead, I was being told I had leukaemia and if I didn’t start chemo immediately, I had less than two months to live. In one afternoon, everything had changed. ‘Normal’ was a distant memory and survival became my only purpose.

In October 2009, life was busy and exciting. Me and husband Ross, 50, were thrilled at becoming grandparents, and our other daughter, Jess, 20, and son, Joshua, 15, were delighted for Katie and Geraint.

Feeling exhausted

I was expanding my food-safety consultancy business while lecturing in Food Science part-time at the university in Cardiff. One morning, while plotting lab results on the board, my arm was aching and I felt really tired. I’d struggled to walk up the three flights of stairs to the laboratory but put my exhaustion down to my very hectic life. A huge blood blister had appeared on my arm after giving blood the previous week, but I presumed this was from the thicker needle used. Everyone urged me to go to the doctor and, within days, by the time I went, I had developed lumps on my neck.