I'm back on stage thanks to German stem cell donor

A MUSICAL theatre star whose career was put on hold by a shock diagnosis of blood cancer is returning to the stage after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor in Germany.

- By Hanna Geissler Health Editor

Sacha Gomez was auditioning for a West End show last year when she felt tired and as if she had a cold.

Hospital doctors diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia, a rare and aggressive cancer of the white blood cells.

She had intense cycles of treatment until University College London Hospital staff discovered a donor and she had a transplant last October.

Sacha, 24, said: "Getting cancer so young was something I never could have expected.

"But I was lucky enough to make it out the other side and I am determined to make it mean something."

In the transplant, faulty blood stem cells are replaced with healthy ones to kick-start the immune system to make new blood cells.