Richard's Story

On 15th February 2004 Richard aged 17 was rushed to Monklands Hospital A & E with suspected Meningitis but after blood tests were done he was informed that he was Anaemic following ten days of blood testing he was informed that he had acquired an illness called Aplastic Anemia of which he was grouped in the very severe category. A Bone Marrow was suggested at the time and his older brother and sister were tested but was not a match so Richard underwent a immune-suppressant treatment called Anti-lymphocyte globulin along with Cyclosporine.

During the next two and a half years he received 42 units of blood and 40 pools of platelets to keep him alive until his own bone marrow started to produce enough of his own blood cells.  Success was achieved by the staff in ward 15 to get and hold Richards blood to level that was not life threatening. He then was monitored every couple of months until December 2007 his blood counts were slowly starting to drop again so he was dreading the worst ... until April this year he was given the news that he had relapsed and now needs a bone marrow transplant and the search world wide was started so as to date he now attends Monklands hospital every week for blood tests and receives blood transfusions so now every week that goes by he is waiting for word that someone is a match.

Aplastic Anemia is an illness that can happen with someone with Leukaemia but as Richard does not have Leukaemia it is suspected that he acquired it by a severe chest infection he got in November 2003 and the relapsed that happened was probably due to another viral infection he took at Christmas 2007.

As there is no charity or fund based in Scotland for Scottish sufferers the above fund was set up on May 3rd (Richards 22nd Birthday) to help him and then anyone in Scotland suffering from this illness. Hopefully along the way stem cell research will bring this life threatening illness to an end.

Only as recent as 1985 this illness was terminal but because of the dedication of Scientists and medical staff there is a small chink of light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Robert Colson's story (Richard's father).

Why we set this fund up....

Basically there is very little to look forward to having to live with a loved one suffering from this illness as a bone marrow match has not been found. I personally live in fear as I am the person who gives Richard his tablets every day and when I approach his room I listen for movement then I say to him "Morning buddy sorry I had to wake you but I've got your tablets". My heart lifts when I hear him groaning but I am terrified that one day he doesn't groan.

To let you understand Richard is not only my son who I love dearly but we worked together and played golf together. We have the exact same interests in life, music, films, football and even xbox games which we play together.

I lost my first son 30 years ago. He was 3 days old and I thought at 18 sitting in a hearse with a tiny white coffin on my knee that nothing in the world could be worse then the next year Jessie miscarried at 5 months. We both thought that would be it; no children then in 1981 Christopher was born. In 1982 Jessie miscarried again at 5 months this time it nearly killed her. Danielle was born in 1984 then Richard in 1986. The funny thing is the only one I got up during the night to feed and change was Richard. I think that's why the bond is so strong.

When Richard relapsed in March this year my other two kids decided to organize a night to raise some funds for Richard. That's when I started my quest to set up a fund for him. I found out no charity or fund was available based in Scotland for Aplastic Anemia. During my internet search I found out that 185 different hospitals and universities all over the world were involved with experimental stem cell research. Because of living life in the negative our family said what if Richard couldn't get a bone marrow match or his NHS treatment failed what would we do because we couldn't just let him die, so I did some checking in America and got figures for someone being treated for leukaemia was about £250,000 so I am using this target to raise funds in case of the worst happening.

This sort of figure is an impossible target and I feel Richard to me is worth 10 times this amount . As a normal Dad my heart goes out to all Aplastic Anemia sufferers just thinking of the pain they must be going through too.

Richard said one day to me "Dad I'm not special, if you can raise that kind of money for me will you do me a favour and will you raise it for anyone else with Aplastic Anemia in case they could die too".

I soon realized that if we could reach these targets we could help families out with their financial burden caused with this treatment so now you know my quest in life.

1. Raise the first target.

2. Raise enough to help others.

3. Raise awareness of this illness.

4. Try to get as many people on the bone marrow register.

5. Try to get as many people on the blood donor register.

6. Donate on a regular basis to ward 15 Monklands Hospital.

This looks like an impossible task but we swear until our last breath both Jessie and myself will achieve these goals, we have to for Richards sake, we just can't take another loss.

Jessie Colson's story (Richard's mother).

Robert asked me to write a mothers story but the internet is not big enough for me to explain my love for my baby. He is my inspiration, the little shy boy who I walked into school on his first day looked so small and scared as he entered his new classroom. When I left him and went home I cried just like thousands of other mums. I used to sneak round to the playground and hide from him but I was just checking that my baby was safe. I was scared that if he saw me he would get upset.

Now it is Richard who hides his feelings from me just so I don't get upset. I treasure the times when he would come home from school and we would snuggle up on the couch for a wee nap until everyone else came home. When Richard used to come in crying because he had hurt himself playing I would kiss him and make it better or when I bribed him not to go on a school trip that lasted a week because I knew I couldn't bear to be without him for a week as I simply just didn't trust anyone to look after my baby.

But in 2004 when Richard took ill I had to trust the Doctors because I knew I couldn't kiss him and make him better. I look at Richard every day and although he is a grown man all I see is this frightened little boy and a piece of my heart dies every time bad news comes. I sometimes wish that time would go back and I could snuggle up to Richard and wrap my arms around him to protect him and life would just stand still because everyday when I wake up I pray that it was just a horrific nightmare but I know that you don't need to sleep to live a nightmare