Brenda McKenzie: ‘I still want to live… it’s a horrendous disease’

A WOMAN has launched an appeal for a life-saving stem cell donation.

Brenda McKenzie, a 58-year-old lifelong Highbury resident, was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer in 2019 called cutaneous T-lymphoma.

“I started off at stage 1B when I was diagnosed, now I’m stage four. My oncologist told me that because of the stage where my disease is, I need a stem cell transplant in order to survive,” said Ms McKenzie, a mother of three.

“It’s very difficult, obviously, for my three ­children. It’s a lot for them to absorb. Unfortunately, my children aren’t able to help me because the stem cells have to come from a full sibling, or otherwise a donor that matches you, and they don’t match me.”

Ms McKenzie has undergone a long list of treatments over the past four years, and began her search for a stem cell donor in 2021. But the worldwide registry of donors hasn’t found any matches. People are more likely to find a stem cell match with people from the same ­ethnicity as them. Due to a lack of donors, black people have a 37 per cent chance of finding the best possible stem cell match, while their white counterparts have a 72 per cent chance.

“I want to appeal to the African and Caribbean community to donate. I need people to come forward for my survival. It’s a very, very difficult disease to treat, and it could be cured by a stem cell match,” Ms McKenzie said.

Donating stem cells is a straightforward, and in 90 per cent of cases, non-surgical procedure.

Brenda undergoing treatment

The donor is connected to a machine that collects stem cells on one arm, separating them from their blood, and then transfuses blood back into the donor’s body via their other arm.

“Without this transfusion, the chance of my survival is very low. In 2020/2021 they gave me five years to live. I really do need a stem cell match in order to make me live, and I still want to live. I’m still a young person. It’s a horrendous disease, and it’s affected every aspect of my life, emotionally, physically, and mentally.

“The black community doesn’t trust [the medical community], and there is a lack of understanding [about procedures]. Those two aspects have impacted why the uptake of giving blood and stem cells is so low.

“That has to change because no one knows when they’re going to need something like this. I never thought I would be in this position. I think all of us as people, whether that be black or white, take blood for granted. It’s a real, real problem, because stem cell match for the black community is really low. If that doesn’t change now, I don’t know when it will,” she said.

Her cancer, she says, has taken over her life.

“When the disease has been really, really bad, I’d be in the shower, and my skin would be coming off in lumps, peeling off, and my skin would be literally bleeding. That’s how horrendous it can be,” she said.

“I just want to live. I want a chance to live a normal life as best as I can. But without that stem cell match, I don’t know what hope there is for me. I’m just keeping a positive outlook. That’s all I can do.”

Please consider joining the register by visiting https://aclt.org/living-with-lymphoma/