Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia - personal stories

Jonjo Rooney

Jonjo Rooney was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in 2006, aged 23.

“After dropping into hospital on a mid-December evening after feeling very unwell and suffering tremendous back pain, my world was rocked with the biggest of bombshells – I had leukaemia,” says Jonjo.

“To be told you have leukaemia at the age of 23, it was like a dream – or more like a nightmare. But I didn’t really have time to sit and think because it was on to the treatment straight away.”

“I was taken to Worcester Royal Hospital the following day where a hospital bed was waiting for me in the haematology ward. From there I was kept in a tightly confined isolated room where treatment began immediately.”

Jonjo had chemotherapy to prepare him for a bone-marrow transplant, which took place at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in July 2007. The transplant was from an unrelated donor as no one in his family was a match. Despite the complications of graft versus host disease (GvHD) after the operation, Jonjo got through it and he is now in complete remission.

Jonjo has been fundraising ever since his diagnosis and regularly talks to patient support groups and schools about his experiences.

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