Hello, I am María Gabriela and I am 22 years old. I am originally from Venezuela but I currently live in Barcelona.  The 3rd of December marked 2 years since I was diagnosed with high risk acute myeloid leukaemia.

Everything started with some dizziness, vomiting, feeling faint, and weight loss but it never felt too serious... When I went to hospital, I underwent several tests and finally I received a bone marrow puncture to see the state of my marrow and put a name and type to my disease.

This scared me a lot and I immediately thought that it would be some form of cancer, which is exactly what it turned out to be.  From then on, I received 5 long cycles of chemotherapy and finally underwent an unrelated umbilical cord blood transplant.  My mother and sister had come from Venezuela to be by my side but unfortunately neither of them was compatible with me.

The process was very slow, long and above all painful and uncomfortable. However, thanks to God I never needed psychological help; I had a lot of strength and support from my family, my partner and my doctors and nurses.

About a month and a half after the transplant I was not very well and the doctors sent me home in order to be with my family for several days.  It was possible that I might need another transplant or but if that didn't work the doctors feared that there wasn't anything more that could be done (I didn't realize the severity of this until later).  However, in a short time I began to feel better and I thought that the new cells were doing their jobs... and that is what happened, bit by bit I got better and now I am completely HEALTHY and HAPPY!!!

I have learnt how to value the things that I have more; to fully realize the LOVE that my family has for me and vice versa; to discover who can truly say that they are my "friends" and if I ever doubted the love of my partner, I now have none whatsoever. Above all I am completely sure of the existence of miracles because I am one of them!!

With this testimony I want to give strength to anyone who is still receiving treatment and to tell their families to never lose faith because the cure can always be found no matter how hard the road to get there is.  Thank  you to all the doctors that have made this possible.  Warmest regards to everyone!!!