Leukaemia survivors Sandra, Cristina, and María have shared their stories at Madrid Transfusion Centre on World Bone Marrow Donor Day to raise donor awareness.
The three women recounted their experiences to Spanish newspaper LA RAZÓN to mark the international occasion and highlight how bone marrow matches save lives. Their testimonies came as regional health officials confirmed that Madrid leads Spain in effective bone marrow donations, with nearly 77,000 residents currently registered.
Sandra recalled that her journey began in 2024 when she received a telephone call from her hospital requesting a repeat blood analysis. She went to the clinic alone because she did not suspect any serious health issue, despite having suffered from previous stomach problems.
Doctors diagnosed her with leukaemia at the hospital, forcing her to call her family on the phone to deliver the news. Her siblings immediately registered as potential donors to see if any of them were compatible.
International Donor Search and Isolation
Tests revealed that an anonymous donor from Germany shared a higher level of compatibility with Sandra than her own siblings. She underwent the stem cell transplant, though she noted that total recovery is a slow process requiring strict precautions due to a weak immune system.
Sandra has now lived a normal life for several months following her treatment. She joked that people often ask whether she feels different after receiving stem cells from a male donor, but said the only thing that changed was her blood type.
Reflecting on her hospital stay, Sandra described the isolation as the hardest part of her illness. Her family and friends were prohibited from entering her hospital room, leaving her unable to see anyone except her husband for months.
Crossed Solidarity and Return to Work
Although Cristina's bone marrow was not used for Sandra, she remained on the donor registry to give back for her sister's treatment. She was later selected as an effective donor for another leukaemia patient with whom she had greater compatibility.
Cristina remains linked to the anonymous patient in case that individual suffers a relapse in the future. What began as an effort to save her sister developed into an international chain of donor solidarity.
Nearly two years after her diagnosis, Sandra returned to her position as an infant school teacher. Her immunocompromised status had previously made the school environment high risk due to the elevated probability of catching viral infections.
2>Diagnosis During the Pandemic
María Loeches received her leukaemia diagnosis during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring even stricter safety precautions during her care. She was 19 years old and had just completed a summer working as a lifeguard.
María felt unusually tired and noticed that her summer tan had disappeared completely within days, leaving her skin extremely pale. She fainted while making her bed one morning and woke up in hospital to learn she had blood cancer.
Inspired by the generosity of her anonymous donor, María trained as a laboratory technician after her recovery. She had already registered as a donor prior to her illness and now works at the Transfusion Centre of the Community of Madrid, analysing blood samples and diagnosing conditions like the one she survived.
Tribute to Healthcare Workers
All three survivors celebrated the meeting between donors and patients, using their experience to emphasize the importance of medical staff. Sandra noted that doctors and nurses effectively become part of a patient's family during months of hospital care.
Leukaemia is a form of cancer that affects blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow, causing the rapid production of abnormal white blood cells. A bone marrow transplant replaces diseased blood stem cells with healthy ones from a matching donor, which can cure patients when standard treatments fail.
Regional Donation Statistics in Madrid
Luisa Barea, the managing director and haematologist at the Transfusion Centre, confirmed that Madrid contributes the highest number of effective donors in Spain. The region recorded 141 effective donations last year, with approximately 60 per cent of those donations benefiting patients living abroad.
Barea reported that the centre has already completed more than 90 effective donations this year, with another 24 scheduled over the next two months. The National Transplant Organisation set an annual target of 4,060 new registered donors for Madrid, and the region has already reached nearly 3,800 registrations with more than three months remaining in the year.
Functions of the Madrid Transfusion Centre
The Transfusion Centre of the Community of Madrid serves as a central hub for regional healthcare services, often called the heart of Madrid. Beyond managing blood donor registries and testing donor compatibility, the facility processes every blood donation made within the Madrid region.
The centre also houses an ovarian tissue bank that preserves organic cortex tissue to help patients restore their fertility after undergoing aggressive medical treatments. In addition, the site houses the Regional Centre for Advanced Therapies to support specialized clinical procedures.
