Freemason Alastair’s stem cell donation saves life of a man in the ‘last chance saloon’

Alastair Hawken is urging fellow Freemasons to sign up to the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry that enabled him to save the life of a complete stranger at the other side of the world.

Australian Luke Melling had been fighting Hodgkin Lymphoma for 12 years, and thought he’d beaten it not once but four times – but it kept returning. With all other possibilities of a cure having failed, he was told he needed a stem cell transplant, but there was no suitable donor anywhere in Australia, even within his own family. Luke said he’d been told this was his last chance. He told the BBC: “It was pretty much like, ‘this is it – this is the only option you have. It’s either this or you’re going to die’.”

But there was a match, and hope, in Alastair Hawken, a member of Sir Issac Newton Lodge in Grantham, and baker of the town’s iconic gingerbread. And in a strange twist the pair discovered they might be distantly related, both having connections to Preston in Lancashire where they met for the first time more than two years after Luke’s treatment.

Alastair, who signed up to the cell donor registry in 2008, didn’t know who’d been given the cells when his donation was taken. Before learning more about the recipient, he had to wait two years; the time it took for the treatment to be declared a success. Alastair discovered the good news through an email from the stem cell registry. He said: “It was wonderful to know that I’d been able to save someone’s life. When I found out it was like all my Christmases had come at once; a really beautiful moment.”

Preston was an appropriate place for them to meet. Alastair’s grandparents lived in the town and Luke’s family has roots there. Luke, now 31 and back to full health, has put the last 15 years behind him and has even run a marathon.

He said: “Meeting Alastair in person is a dream come true. What do you say to the person who has given you your life back by literally giving a part of themselves? Being able to get on that plane and fly across the world is possible only because of him. The moment I got to give him that huge hug and thank him in person is a moment I’ll never forget.”

Alastair hopes their story will encourage others to sign up to the stem cell registry. He said: “Meeting Luke really brings home just what a difference that simple act can make. I just wish more people would put themselves forward to be on the register to donate, whether it’s platelets or organs or blood or stem cells – that is just the gift of life.

“Joining the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry whilst at one of these regular appointments was a no-brainer”, says Alastair. “I didn’t really think about it again until I got the phone call, 14 years later, to tell me I had come up as a match for somebody who needed a stem cell transplant. Of course, I didn’t hesitate to say yes when they asked if I wanted to go ahead.

“There’s nothing that makes you feel more complete as a human being – and when it’s a success story, like it clearly has been in our case, it makes everything all worthwhile.”

Anyone aged from 17 to 40, from every ethnic background, is encouraged to visit this link to join the Stem Cell Donor Registry to give more patients a better chance of finding the life-saving matches they need.

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