22 Aug 2025

“The NHS gave me a new lease of life and I am determined to give something back now.”

Pradeep with his wife Teenu.

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the most common type of leukaemia. Eight people in the UK are diagnosed with AML every day, often after becoming seriously ill with symptoms such as bleeding, fatigue, infections and breathlessness. Very rarely AML is picked up early through a routine blood test in someone who has no symptoms. This was the case with Pradeep Thatai whose story started in December 2021 when he changed his GP.

“They had a blood testing service in the surgery,” said Pradeep, 74, a retired accountant, HR and finance director for global businesses who lives in Bromley in Kent. “My wife Teenu said to me since you are in your 70s and you hear a lot about prostate cancer, why don’t you ask for a test? I booked in on a Thursday at 9am for blood test, and the same evening at 9.30pm I received a phonecall from the registrar at Kings College Hospital in London. She asked if I was feeling ok. I said yes. She asked if I had any breathlessness or impaired vision – no. Then she said my blood test had a 10 to 15 times higher white blood cell count than the norm. She told me I needed to go to my local hospital the next day. I said it wasn’t a good day because it was my grandson’s last football game of the season. She said no, you are not going there, you are going to the hospital.”

Pradeep and Teenu went to the Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington the next morning.

“I saw signs around the waiting room for MacMillan cancer support and posters about leukaemia. They took lots of vials of blood and then a week later I went back to see a specialist. She said they weren’t certain what it was but probably a blood infection. More tests were taken and then on my third visit they told me I had leukaemia.”

Pradeep was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) on 2nd February 2022.

“My wife was with me and she is a person who is 100 percent positive about everything in life, so we just took it as ok this is what it is, we shall deal with it.”

Pradeep during his bone marrow transplant.

However a second health challenge was about to present itself to Pradeep, which also meant his treatment was delayed.

“I was immediately put on chemotherapy tablets hydroxycarbamide and was scheduled to start treatment in hospital. But I had a lesion on my ankle that they decided needed looking at. I was actually waiting for a knee replacement and that surgeon had already sent me to a dermatologist who said it was just something to keep an eye on. I pointed it out to the haematology consultant and asked if was linked to the leukaemia. She said no but let’s get it biopsied. So they fast tracked me and within four days I got a call from a dermatology consultant to say it was squamous cell carcinoma and needed to be removed. I was sent immediately to St Thomas Hospital in London where they removed it along with a four-inch margin of skin around it. That was very painful and it bled all night afterwards.”

Eventually in April 2022 Pradeep started his in-patient hospital treatment at Princess Royal University Hospital in Orpington. He was put onto FLAG-IDA which is an intensive treatment of four different types of chemotherapy drugs over five days.

“At the end of that week my white blood cells were down to zero. I knew all about the side effects of chemotherapy but was only sick once. I was very lucky. I was also given about 25 pints of blood and the same amount of platelets during the time, and 35 days later was released to go home.”

However Pradeep’s consultant also explained to him that this was only a treatment and not a cure. His leukaemia was in his bone marrow and would come back so he needed a stem cell transplant. He was referred to King’s College Hospital in London and the search for a stem cell donor began.

Pradeep having treatment at Kings College Hospital London.

“My daughter was only a 50 per cent match, and my sister at 59 years was considered too old as 60 is the usual limit. We were called to an appointment at Kings a couple of weeks after I came home and expected to be told it would be ages to find a donor but instead the consultant announced they’d found a 100% match through Anthony Nolan Trust! It was a 40-year-old man in India, and I will be forever grateful to him.”

Yet another different medical issue delayed Pradeep’s stem cell transplant – this time a dental infection. Once he’d had two teeth extracted at Kings College Hospital’s Dental Institute his transplant was booked for 14th July 2022.

“My ‘Angel’ donor donated his stem cells the day before and they were flown overnight from India. I thought the actual transplant would be a long-winded process but it was over in 40 minutes and exactly like getting a blood transfusion. I’d had the five days of intensive chemotherapy before and again was so lucky as I had no problem at all with side effects. My wife and I had three words from the start: ‘Positivity, positivity, positivity’. We believed in the magic of the NHS and the good wishes of friends and family.”

Pradeep returned home after three weeks in hospital, quickly regained his strength and enjoyed delicious home cooking to help him put on the 10kg he’d lost during treatment. Weekly visits to the consultant eventually became once every six months and he remains 100% in remission.

It was then with exceptionally cruel irony that just as Pradeep had come through cancer, it dramatically and unexpectedly hit his beloved son Jaideep.

Pradeep’s son Jaideep.

“He developed a rare and aggressive form of thymic cancer. He was getting the very best treatment from Kingston Hospital, Chelsea and Westminster and the Royal Marsden since January 2018, and was recovering well. Jaideep had held a very senior financial position at a large global construction company and was being considered for a CFO role at a premier league football club.

“He’d taken his wife and two young sons to Paris to see the Olympic games in August 2024 – he was a talented cricketer, rugby and football player. They were having a great time. Suddenly, one day he became very ill. My wife and I got an emergency call and immediately caught a train to Paris with our daughter Neha. Two hours after arriving at the hospital, as if he was waiting for us to arrive, Jaideep was gone. Jaideep had bravely fought his cancer for six and a half years. I felt like someone upstairs got the wrong Thatai. Jaideep at 41 had achieved more than many people do in their entire lifetime and he remains my inspiration every day.”

Pradeep and Teenu’s grandchildren Maya, Jonah and Samir.

Pradeep now focuses on spending time with Jaideep’s sons Jonah and Samir and wife Christine. His daughter Neha and her little girl Maya live nearby, and he and Teenu, who is retired from her career running fashion importation businesses in London and Germany, enjoy socialising with a wide circle of friends. He is also dedicated to giving back his skills in company finance and strategy by volunteering. Pradeep is on the Board of Trustees at local schools and is Chair of the Trustees at a Grammar School, Goldsmiths University College Union in London, and the charity Orion Education.

“The NHS gave me a new lease of life and I’m determined to give something back now. Since my leukaemia I’ve had three retinal detachments and two knee replacements, and each time the care has been exceptional. I came to the UK from India at the age of 20 and will never stop being grateful to the amazing NHS, as well as Anthony Nolan Trust and every person and organisation that has helped me.”

Meanwhile Teenu, Neha and friends have also set about helping others by giving back. They have completed an 18-mile sponsored walk from Kings College to the PRU hospital in Orpington in 2023 and 2024. Jaideep’s wife Christine and friends have done a 26 mile charity walk for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, raising over £40,000. Teenu and Pradeep have agreed to donate our their bodies to science after they die.

“I want to share my story to encourage other people from ethnic minorities to go and see their doctors if they have symptoms. I am not sure whether it’s a lack of trust or understanding, misguided religious beliefs or whether they fear they will experience racism or whether they are just scared they won’t be looked after. I want to tell people it’s the opposite. Two of my consultants were Greek, one from India originally, another was Brazilian and the last one Italian. None of it mattered, I had the best of everything. I want to encourage people to feel confident that they will be listened to, understood and treated well.

“When I was first diagnosed I asked the consultant what would have happened if I hadn’t had that blood test. She said I could have had a stroke or bleeding or a seizure – maybe instant death. She said to me on the third visit ‘you’re radiating positivity, I think you’re going to be OK’. And she was right.”