The mother of a 12-year-old boy from Marlow who said the thought of losing her son to leukaemia ‘keeps her up at night’ has described finding a blood donor abroad as ‘the best news’.

Seth Lowdon was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in November 2022 but, after a difficult six months of chemotherapy, he rang the ‘end of treatment’ bell at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford in May 2023, tentatively indicating him to be in the clear.

Tragically, the 12-year-old was told his leukaemia had returned in April of this year after mum Emma noticed bruising on his arm and took him to the High Wycombe MIU for a blood test.

After the relapse, Emma said a consultant had told her that chemotherapy alone wouldn’t be enough to cure the AML and that their best hopes now lay in finding a stem cell donor for a bone marrow transplant. 

Following a fruitless few months – including the entire family being tested, to no luck – she has shared the good news that her son has finally found a matching cord blood donor in Spain and will travel to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London today (June 25) to begin chemo ahead of a transplant procedure on July 3.

Cord blood is blood taken from the placenta and umbilical cord after a baby is born and can be used to treat serious conditions including cancers and genetic disorders.

Writing on a GoFundMe page set up to fund experiences and gifts as a way of keeping Seth’s spirits high, Emma described the transplant plan as “the best news”, adding: “There were no matches for him in the UK, so we are using cord blood from Spain. That’s going to make Euros and World Cups even trickier going forward!

“Thank you so much for supporting and continuing to support Seth on this journey. It’s humbling.”

Speaking to the Free Press in May, Emma said she hadn’t wanted to start the GoFundMe page initially because she was “still struggling with people knowing”.

“It makes it real, and people start being nice and that’s hard when you’re trying to be strong. I cry in the bathroom in the hospital, so he doesn’t see.

“(But) we want to be able to give Seth treats along the way because it’s just an awful situation. Our world has stopped since the diagnosis.”