A mum-of-one who noticed her face swelling was told she had a devastating disease just three months later.
Mary Dunne, from Formby, noticed a number of flu-like symptoms and knew she needed to go to see the doctor. Speaking to the ECHO, her husband Kevin, 75, said: "In 2014 she started noticing her face swelling, constantly being tired and getting out of breath all the time.
"We went to see the doctor who gave her antibiotics and they said that we should go to the dentist because they thought it was a dental problem. After an x-ray, they said to go back to the doctors. They gave us more antibiotics and after 10 days they sent her for an ultrasound.
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"The results didn't find anything. About three months on from the first visit and we asked 'what can we do?' As she would go up the stairs she would hold onto the rail barely able to breathe.
"She went for a blood test and the next day they rang us to go in for a meeting. They sent off another test and when we went in on the Monday they said it was serious. The next day we had to go to the hospital.
"On the Friday the consultant came in and told us the bad news that she had acute myeloid leukaemia."
At the time of the blood test, it was found that the mum-of-one's bone marrow was "70% leukaemia", with her being admitted to hospital for blood and platelet transfusions, a bone marrow biopsy and to start chemotherapy. Following several rounds of brutal chemotherapy, the Anthony Nolan foundation managed to find the only stem cell donor in the world that matched Mary.
The woman from America was found to have a 9.5/10 match with Mary, now 73, which was enough for her to be cured to a level that allows her to live a normal life.
Seven years on the couple, along with Kevin's brother Tony who received a bone marrow transplant just a year after Mary, and son Christopher, have set up Stem Cell Scousers which raises money for the Anthony Nolan Foundation which funds finding stem cell donors across the world.
Stem Cell Scouser is now being supported by Tesco during its community grant scheme which will see shoppers in Tescos across Sefton vote for charities to receive funding using blue tokens as they leave the stores. Funding will go towards finding stem cell donors and helping those with blood cancer.
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