Deb keeps smiling – even through blood cancer
3 min read 03 September 2025
Deb was getting ready to see a friend when something felt… off. Her skirt was tight, her belly tender. She felt breathless, and drained of energy.
Concerned, she went for blood tests. Her GP called back with urgency: “Go to the hospital. Now.”
Moments after getting there, Deb collapsed, slipping into a brain fog that would last for four long weeks.
When she woke up, Deb had no memory of how she got to the hospital. She didn’t know her friends and family had been there, taking shifts at her bedside. And she had no idea that, while she lay unconscious, her life had changed forever.
Deb was diagnosed with myelofibrosis – a rare type of blood cancer that causes relentless fatigue, unbearable itching, and skin so fragile it can tear at the touch. And there is no cure, yet.
For now, Deb lives in fear that her condition will progress, and that the next test will bring worse news.
Through relentless uncertainty and endless exhaustion Deb has never lost her ability to smile. Her greyhound Billy helps.
“I’m stuck in this ‘watch and wait’ phase. It’s one of the most painful things because I’m constantly unsure of what’ll come next,” she said.
Giving to cancer research is the best way to find more precise and effective treatments, and ultimately cures, for cancer.
“I’ve completely lost who I am.”
Before her diagnosis, Deb had a thriving career. She loved to travel and dreamed of seeing more of the world. But everything changed the day she collapsed and was rushed to hospital.
“My eyesight’s shot, my hair’s gone, my brain is foggy,” she shares.
“I’m just not myself anymore.”
Deb’s body is tired. But her spirit is strong. Your gift will help advance critical research with the power to change – and save – lives.
Deb relies on medications that ease her symptoms but offer no long-term solution. And there’s a risk her condition could progress into acute myeloid leukaemia, a fast-moving and often fatal blood cancer.
Will cancer research cure the incurable?
At Peter Mac, researchers are working on a new way to tackle blood cancers like Deb’s.
Dr Alexander Lewis and his team have discovered a way to block the production of a molecule called haem — a substance blood cancer cells depend on for energy and survival.
When haem is shut down, the cancer cells lose their power source – and die. But what’s truly remarkable is how they die: through a rare process called cuproptosis, completely unlike the way existing treatments work.
It is still early-stage research – but its potential is enormous. This discovery could lead to entirely new treatment options.
And for people like Deb, who live every day with the fear of their cancer progressing, that could change everything.
Donate now to help research discover ways to treat and defeat cancer – for good.
“There’s still so much more I want to do.”
Despite everything she’s been through, Deb is still dreaming about the future.
“I’d love to be loved before I die. I want to see more of the world. There’s still so much more I want to do,” she says.
Accelerating the pace of research discoveries is incredibly important. Because people like Deb cannot afford to wait.
Your gift will help accelerate the kind of life-changing breakthroughs that offer new options – and new hope.
By giving to cancer research at Peter Mac, you will help move life-saving discoveries out of the lab and into the lives of people who are waiting, urgently.
You have the power to help change lives. Donate to ground-breaking cancer research at Peter Mac now.