Teenage Reading boxer faces fight of his life

Reuben Muston sustained an injury in the ring which left him with a nosebleed which would not stop

A teenage boxer is hoping for a stem cell match after an injury in the ring, and a nosebleed that did not stop, revealed he had a blood disorder.

Reuben Muston from Reading, Berkshire, was boxing in the final of the National Youth Championships last year when he fell ill.

The 18-year-old was told by doctors a stem cell transplant was the only viable long-term treatment.

None of his family are a suitable match.

Reuben was diagnosed with aplastic anaemia, a blood disorder which stops bone marrow and stem cells from producing enough blood cells.

Without treatment, it can raise a patient's risk of complications such as bleeding, leukaemia, irregular heartbeat and heart failure.

Reuben currently visits hospital two to three times a week to have blood and platelet transfusions and blood tests and urgently needs a stem cell transplant to treat his condition long term.

"I've got two half-sisters, if they were full siblings it'd be more likely. But I've an extremely rare bone marrow, no-one on the register is a match," Mr Muston said.

The stem cell register contains 38 million people and now the budding athlete and his family are appealing to anyone in the UK who is fit and healthy, between the ages of 16 and 30, to join it.

'No other symptoms'

Mr Muston sustained his injury in the second round of the boxing match last March. His nosebleed lasted for five days.

"I'd felt absolutely fine before, out training twice a day. I'd been feeling a bit tired but I put that down to the training.

"There were no other symptoms, it could've gone unnoticed until something fatal happened, so really it was quite lucky."

The Reading teenager currently has to visit hospital several times a week for blood transfusions and tests

Mr Muston said he has to be "really careful" as he has no immune system and does not meet his friends very often.

"My gums can start bleeding easily and little cuts can bleed for hours," he said.

The keen boxer was due to start university last September but had to postpone his studies on the advice of his consultant.

But he said the "curable disorder" gave him hope for a return to boxing, if he can get a transplant.

"There's a 50/50 chance I'll get back to it, I'd like to make a career out of it, that's plan A," he said.

Anthony Nolan, a charity which focuses on helping those with blood disorders and blood cancers, said around 2,400 people in the UK needed a stem cell transplant from a stranger every year.