Life after Leukemia: Glasson’s Ellie Mai on living her best life
Two years after first sharing her story, young cancer survivor Ellie Mai Murphy from Glasson says she is now focusing on living life again, while aiming to help other young patients facing the same diagnosis she once did.
The now 21-year-old previously spoke about her shock diagnosis of Acute Lymphoblastic T-Cell Leukemia at the age of 17 while preparing for her Leaving Certificate in 2023, and the life-saving bone marrow transplant she received from an anonymous donor later that year.
After spending a year in hospital, Ellie Mai has since been declared cancer-free. Following her life-saving transplant, she has now been diagnosed with Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease (cGVHD).
“Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease is a complication that can happen after the transplant where your cells and the donor cells are kind of fighting each other,” she said.
The condition, which affects her skin, means Ellie Mai must still travel to hospital regularly for treatment.
Ellie Mai is one of two patients in Ireland receiving a trial treatment for Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease.
“With the trial drug, it’s double blind trial, so I don’t know if I’m actually getting it or not,” she said
“I’m still cancer free, but I’m going up to the hospital every couple of weeks. The trial drug is an immunosuppressant infusion, it’s kind of like chemo, but you don’t lose your hair.”
Despite the continued treatment, Ellie Mai says she is finally starting to feel like herself again after a long period of recovery.
“When I first came out of hospital after my transplant, I thought I felt perfect again,” she said, “but it’s only now that I actually feel healthy.
“I’m back in the gym and able to do what everyone else kind of does again. It takes a long time to get there.”
For now, she is focusing on making up for lost time.
“At the minute I’m just travelling around and living my best life because I couldn’t for so long. I’m going on little city breaks whenever I can,” she said.
Her experience has also shaped her future ambitions. After spending almost a year in hospital during her treatment, Ellie Mai decided she wanted to pursue a career in nursing.
She completed a PLC course in nursing in Moate Business College last year.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do before I got sick,” she said. “After being in hospital for basically a year, I realised how much the nurses helped me through everything. That’s when I realised that’s what I wanted to do.”
While she hopes to study nursing at university in the future, Ellie Mai has decided to take some time out from education while she continues treatment.
“I don’t think I’m in the right mindset to be minding other patients while I’m still kind of a patient myself,” she said.
“Eventually I would love to be a nurse and help other people the way the nurses helped me.”
Throughout her cancer journey, Ellie Mai also found comfort by connecting with other young people going through similar experiences.
“What helped me deal with everything was talking about it,” she said.
“When you’re in hospital you can feel really alone, especially because you’re isolated from other patients.”
She reached out online and connected with teenagers from different countries who were also undergoing treatment. “We had a group chat called Chemo Addict Anonymous on WhatsApp,” she said.
“It was teenagers just sharing stories, asking questions and supporting each other.”
Now Ellie Mai hopes that by continuing to share her own experience, she can offer reassurance to others who may be facing a similar diagnosis.
“I would have loved to talk to someone when I was sick who had been through the same thing and could tell me everything was going to be okay,” she said.
“I just want people who are in hospital to know that they’re not alone.”
Looking back on the past two years, Ellie Mai says the experience has changed her perspective on life.
“I’ll never feel the way I did before cancer,” she said. “It just changes your whole perspective on everything.”