Brighton: University student saved by stem cell transplant

Julia Reinstein, 23, a student at the University of Sussex, was in a desperate need of a transplant after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2019.

She was told she had acute myeloid leukaemia two weeks before her 19th birthday in February 2019 after she complained of feeling overly tired.

Julia needed a stem cell transplant after the aggressive cancer persisted following two rounds of chemotherapy and underwent the operation in June 2019 in University College Hospital, London.

Her donor was Nathan Day, 29.

The life-saving operation means Julia is now three years in remission and she was able to complete her university degree and is now working in Whistler, Canada, on a gap year.

Julia decided to contact her anonymous donor in June 2022 and after swapping letters through the Anthony Nolan charity which had a stem cell register, she discovered it was Nathan, a research scientist.

Nathan and Julia (Image: SWNS)

The pair met up for the first time in November 2022 and have seen each other again for coffee since and keep in touch.

Julia found out Nathan had been working on his PhD at University College London in the building next door to the hospital where she was being treated, just 100ft from each other.

Nathan says Julia feels “a bit like a sister” and thinks it is “brilliant” that she has decided to go on to study at medical school.

Nathan, from Islington, London, said: “It was crazy to surreal to think she’s got my DNA. It was a bit weird but in the nicest way.

“She’s a bit like a sister, we have a genetic link between us. We have this link that makes us quite close.

“It’s the stuff that makes life rich. For a small amount of effort, you get so much out of it.”

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Julia, who is from London, said: “It’s just crazy. I was so nervous to meet Nathan.

“When I found out his name it clicked that this lovely person has donated to me.

“I had never put together that this person is a whole person with favourite flavours of ice cream and who has two cats.

“It’s that surrealness of still being alive because of him. I saw him for the first time and just said ‘can I give you a hug?’.

“We both have this mutual understanding of the incredible thing Nathan did for me.”

Julia was diagnosed after her dad, Dan, 60, an eye doctor, advised her to go for a blood test after she told him she was feeling tired.

Julia now lives a healthy life (Image: SWNS)

She went straight into chemotherapy five days after the news but needed a transplant as her aggressive cancer had “nasty mutations”.

Doctors immediately started looking for a donor after her brothers Maxi, 20, and Oscar, 18 were fould not to be a match.

She underwent the surgery in June 2019 and has been able to live a healthy life since.

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Julia said: “I didn’t find out about the donor, only that it was from a young male.”

Julia was able to go back to university in Brighton to finish her neuroscience degree and decided to apply for medical school which she has deferred while she enjoys a gap year.

She was able to send an anonymous letter through Antony Nolan in June 2022 and after several communications back and forth they found out each other's identities and organised to meet up.

Julia said: “We were both tentatively trying to say maybe we should meet up.

“We were both keen to. I got an email with the name, and I was like holy s*** - that’s my donor's name.”

Julia and Nathan decided to meet at the Francis Crick Institute where Nathan now works and discovered they had been just a couple of buildings apart at the time of Julia’s treatment.

Nathan said: “She was interested in medical research, so we met at the institute.

“I thought it was a good icebreaker. I waved at her and she clocked it was me and was overcome by emotions.”

Julia added: “I didn’t tell me family I was meeting him. I wanted to be free of expectation. I was being treated 100ft away, we had no idea.

“I happened to match with the guy next to me.”

Nathan has yet to meet Julia’s family but is looking forward to connecting with them.

He wants to encourage people to sign up to be a donor and says it is “easier than a Covid swab”.

He said: “You can really change or save someone’s life. You have more than a friend for life and a wonderful story to tell."

Julia said: “I’m so grateful it goes without saying.”