Enize’s journey from leukaemia to a second chance
Enize had dreams of studying medicine and becoming a doctor and cancer was nowhere in her plans.
Then, weeks before her diagnosis, she began experiencing severe stomach pain and headaches, swollen gums and lymph nodes, unexplained bruising, fatigue and shortness of breath.
Just three days after completing her degree, everything changed.
After initially visiting a doctor, blood tests revealed something far more serious. Enize was asked to return immediately and bring someone with her. In November 2024, she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) and immediately admitted to hospital.
Having lost her mother to breast cancer in 2016, the diagnosis carried an additional emotional weight.
Within days, she began chemotherapy. Instead of celebrating the end of university and enjoying the December holidays, Enize spent almost a month in an isolation room.
Waiting for someone to say yes
Treatment continued throughout 2025, but from the beginning, Enize knew that chemotherapy alone would not be enough. She needed a stem cell transplant, and finding a matching donor became an important part of her journey.
Her sister was tested first, but she was not a full match. With no matching donor in her family, the search turned to the donor registry. For Enize, this meant another kind of waiting – hoping that somewhere, someone would be her match and, when the call came, would be willing to donate.
Months later, a donor was found in Germany and her transplant was scheduled for August 2025.
For Enize, it felt like the moment she had been waiting for. Then, just one week before she was due to be admitted, the donor changed their mind and withdrew from donating.
She was devastated. Suddenly, after months of hoping, Enize was waiting again.
Another potential donor was approached and agreed to donate. Her transplant was rescheduled for 1 October, but after what had happened before, relief came with fear. This time, the donor stayed committed.
After months of hoping for the phone call that would tell her a donor was ready, Enize finally received her stem cell transplant.
A second chance
Today, at 23, Enize is back studying medicine full-time, pursuing the dream cancer forced her to put on hold.
She returns to that dream with a different perspective and a deep sense of gratitude for the donor whose decision gave her a second chance at life.
For Enize, being a cancer survivor means getting to continue the life that once felt as though it had stopped, while using her experience to give hope to someone else.
Her message to anyone facing a cancer diagnosis is simple: “Take it day by day. Allow your body to rest and heal. Keep telling yourself that you can do it and believe it. You’ve got this.”