Pete McCleave set out to find the person who could save his life – he ended up saving the lives of 20 other people along the way.
The dad-of-two has been in a race against time after he was diagnosed with myeloma, a type of blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow.
Pete, 45, was given seven years to live in 2017 and told his best chance of survival was finding a stem cell donor, with a perfect match to his genetic code.
In setting out to get more people on the stem cell register in a bid to find his ‘genetic twin’, he has found donors for more than 20 others around the world. He said: “To know that 20 people have found their match because of this work is phenomenal. I am immensely proud.”
The former investment banker added: “Having spent so much of my career doing something which didn’t have much emotional substance behind it, to now be able to do something which has value beyond earning a salary is just fantastic. It has more fulfilment than any job I’ve done because it is life-changing.
“For people to hear we have found a match, I can only imagine how they feel.”
Initially, Pete was warned his target to find 10,000 new donors was “unachievable”. But he did it in a matter of months – and he didn’t stop there.
By the start of this year, another 100,000 people had signed up.
In the past six years, he’s raced around the world and the Nurburgring, done a wing walk and raised £40,000 for DKMS blood cancer charity, all in aid of raising awareness of stem cell donation. Pete, who is of mixed heritage, has also launched the ‘Gob for Good’ campaign, to get people from more varied ethnic backgrounds on the register.
But while his own donor search continues, Pete, his wife Jen, and two sons Max, 13, and Seb, 10, are all conscious he received his seven-year prognosis six years ago.
Recalling a recent chat with his youngest son, Pete, from Bunbury, Cheshire, said: “He put two and two together and worked out I might not be here next year. I was taking him to football a few weeks ago and he broke down.
“Next year has been looming on the horizon ever since the diagnosis, but my way to get around it is not to dwell.”
He added: “The last thing I want my kids to remember about me is that he just gave up. If I can’t be a role model for them when they’re older, the least I can do is be a role model for them today.”
How to be a hero
Around 1 in 4,000 people will be a genetic match for someone in need of stem cells. You can find out if you’re a match with a cheek swab, and donating stem cells is usually as easy as giving blood. For more information, go to www.anthonynolan.org
