Patients appeal for stem cell transplant lab at CUH

Patients with blood cancer such as leukemia are appealing to the HSE to reestablish a stem cell transplant laboratory at Cork University Hospital (CUH) to alleviate long hospital stays for them in Dublin and Galway, where stem cell labs are currently located.

A lab at CUH was closed in the 2000s over compliance issues. It is estimated an investment of around €27 million would be required to restore stem cell treatment in Co Cork.

Dan Sheehan is a dairy farmer from Blarney in Co Cork. In July of last year, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia.

Mr Sheehan's treatment was a course of stem cell therapy, but that meant a six-week stay in St James's Hospital in Dublin, one of only two centres in the country providing stem cell transplantation.

He is now campaigning for the development of a third laboratory to be located at CUH.

Mr Sheehan cites the pressure on the existing unit at St James's Hospital and at University Hospital Galway, and the pressure extended stays at those hospitals put on patients from the south of the country and their families as the main reasons for supporting the re-instatement of the stem cell transplant unit at CUH.

"Cork would be far more suitable for most people down south," Mr Sheehan told RTÉ News. "I was eight months waiting from diagnosis to stem cell transplant, and I was aware that I was ready for stem cell before it was actually available to me."

Mags McCarthy is a musician and teacher from Dripsey, Co Cork. Her father, Michael, also had to travel to Dublin for stem cell treatment after he was diagnosed with leukemia.

While his treatment was ongoing, Ms McCarthy drove from Cork to Dublin and back every day for the six weeks her father was undergoing his treatment.

She is leading the campaign for a stem cell transplant laboratory in Co Cork, to allow patients from Cork and Kerry to be treated closer to home and to take pressure off the units in Dublin and Galway.

"To be honest with you, this needs to be built yesterday," Ms McCarthy said.

"Doctors don't have the tools to treat their patients. 20 years is too long for any of these cancer patients. Some of these patients, when they're in remission, they cannot wait. In my father's case, when he got into remission, if he didn't get his transplant, he was going to die."

Consultant haematologist Dr Vitaliy Mykytiv is the clinical director for diagnostics at CUH and the lead for the stem cell programme there. He said the establishment of a stem cell transplant lab would alleviate stress on the around 100 patients from Cork and Kerry diagnosed with blood cancer every year.

"A lot of these patients would be immunocompromised. They would also have to stay significant lengths of time in the transplant centre, far away from their family support," Dr Mykytiv said of the situation as it is currently.

"The capacity at a national level is limited so, having it here would also increase the capacity and allow more patients to be treated."

In a statement, the HSE said it is considering proposals for the establishment of a unit which would support the delivery of stem cell transplantation and future cellular therapies here.

However, it said this project is not included in the HSE's capital plan for 2026-2030.

Inclusion in that plan is key, and it is subject to appraisal and approval.

Next Wednesday, patients and advocates from Cork and Kerry will brief Oireachtas members on their campaign at a meeting in Leinster House.