‘I had a preventive double mastectomy … then I was diagnosed with a different type of cancer’

A woman took the drastic step of a double mastectomy to reduce her risk of one type of cancer, only to be diagnosed with another. Now she’s alive because of a simple act by a stranger.

Sophie Patnicroft-Gray, 34, will forever be grateful to the stranger who gave up their time to be a stem cell donor. Picture: RoyVPhotography.

Sophie Patnicroft-Gray has a stranger’s DNA coursing through her veins, literally keeping her alive.

At age 29, she was diagnosed with a rare blood and bone marrow cancer that doesn’t respond well to chemotherapy.

In a cruel twist, the discovery she had a type of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) came just a year after she had undergone a preventive double mastectomy as earlier genetic testing showed she carried the BRCA mutation, which increases the likelihood of breast and ovarian cancer.

Ms Patnicroft-Gray, now 34, relocated from the UK to Australia in 2019 and learned of the disease about six months later when a doctor ordered a series of blood tests, routine for new patients.

Sophie was 29 when she was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. Picture supplied

Sophie was told a stem cell transplant was her only chance to beat her type of leukaemia. Picture supplied

“To be told, a year out from amputating a part of my body – my breasts, which is a huge thing for a young woman – to avoid a cancer diagnosis, that I had cancer in my bloodstream, in my bone marrow was just horrendous … it was like the rug had been pulled out from under my feet,” she said.

When tests confirmed a rare subtype of AML, she was told the prognosis was “dismal” with her only chance of survival a stem cell transplant, following high-strength chemotherapy to reduce the number of leukaemia cells.

As the chemo was administered, health professionals desperately sought a suitable donor.

“Without a transplant, I would die – there wasn’t any other option,” she said.

“The (donor) cells go into your body, into your bloodstream … and find their way into your bone marrow and then begin to grow and make new blood cells.

“It’s a crazy thing; my blood, running through my body, now has my donor’s DNA … I’ve two different DNAs.”

Ms Patnicroft-Gray will forever be grateful for the “selfless act of a stranger”, who provided the stem cells for the transplant, matched through “tissue typing” which takes into account factors beyond blood group, including a person’s heritage.

Sophie today with her dog Badger. Picture: RoyVPhotography.

“As a pretty standard white British female, I was lucky as there are a lot of us here in Australia … I do know of other patients who have been unable to find donors and that has sadly ended their life.”

Now in remission, the yoga instructor has monthly blood tests to check her white blood status and ensure her donor’s cells remain high in her body.

Sadly, she has learned the pre-transplant chemotherapy “completely wiped out my ovarian function”, meaning she will not be able to fall pregnant, adding to the emotional rollercoaster of the past few years.

“At times I am almost a bit pissed off but (mainly) I’m just grateful to be here, to be alive, to have my life … grateful to my donor for giving me five extra years of life,” she said.

“I don’t think there are words to convey the immense gratitude I have for her, in taking the time to help someone she has never met.”

Originally published as ‘I had a preventive double mastectomy … then I was diagnosed with a different type of cancer’