I’ve been through invasive treatment including several rounds of chemo but now I’m relying on a stranger to help save my life – as I need to find a matching blood stem cell donor. Without this, doctors have given me less than seven years to live.

I’ve teamed up with blood cancer charity DKMS to help me with my search. Last September we created a campaign to register 10,000 new blood stem cell donor to the UK’s aligned stem cell registry and had recently reached the half way milestone.

My family have been so supportive and Max desperately wanted to help my campaign, so wrote a letter urging people aged between 17-55 and in general good health to register and go on standby to potentially save the life of someone like me.

It has been said in the past, probably justifiably so, that I can on occasion be a little un-emotive. When I read this letter from my son, my reaction was far removed from my default setting. I could not be prouder of both my kids but when I read the letter, Max in particular, knocked me for six.

I hate the fact that Max and Seb have had to be exposed to this. Clearly their understanding of my situation is much greater than I appreciated and Max’s letter is his way of approaching it.

What Max and I didn’t quite appreciate was the impact his letter would have. We appeared on breakfast TV and radio shows and the amount of support we’ve received has simply blown us away.

After hearing our story 10,000 people requested a home swab kit through the 10000donors.com or DKMS websites in 24 hours. This is the second highest figure of requests in such a short period of time in DKMS’ history, and the requests are continuing to come in!

Over £20,000 was also donated to the charity to help cover the £40 cost of registering each new donor – which is incredible.

This means that we have smashed the 10,000 challenge target and since the start of the campaign collectively over 18,000 people have taken the first step to become someone’s lifesaver. Incredibly, as a result of the campaign, four donors have already been identified as potential matches for people in urgent need, including a friend of mine.

The results have blown me away. Never in a million years did I think we’d not just hit, but surpass target this soon. It just goes to show how generous people can be. We just need to ensure people post their swab kits back to DKMS to ensure their details are fully registered on to the UK’s aligned stem cell registry.

I have had such mixed feeling since Max wrote his letter. Pride, love and sadness. When I read it I was so full of admiration and appreciation. I had not realised how much he had been taking on board and not only that, but coping with it too. An eight year old! But your child should not have to contend with such issues and I feel guilty that he has to. That I am taking away his childhood.

But look at the good he has done with that situation. He is being proactive and using what he knows as best he can. And look at what he has achieved!

Despite the reason why we are doing this, I count myself very lucky to have the family I do. I hope that I find my lifesaver, so I can get a second chance at life and create more incredible memories with them.

If you haven’t already registered please sign up today and take that first step in becoming a potential lifesaver.

Peter McCleave

To read more about Max’s letter, head over to Peter’s blog.