Matt Scorringe’s fight against Leukemia February 7, 2010 – Tags:

On 21 January 2010 Matt was admitted into the hospital after not feeling well for sometime. He was diagnosed with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia. Commonly called APL, a malignancy of the bone marrow in which there is a deficiency of mature blood cells in the myeloid line of cells and an excess of immature cells called promyelocytes. It accounts for 5-10% of cases of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The peak incidence of APL is in young adults.
Matt is 24 years young and a good friend of mine, who i grew up surfing with and competing against, he’s Sponsors include Billabong, Von Zipper, DVZ Shoes, Nixon Watches, Anderson Surfboards, O&E Accessories and is one of New Zealands finest surfers. He has spent the best part of 2009 as Kerr-Azy Productions Filmer & Editor for Josh Kerr.
To help and support Matt Scorringe on his journey to beating Leukemia. We hope that you can donate to help Matt feel more comfortable on a daily basis and to help with costs. We will try keep everyone updated on the long road ahead, with updates on his progress.
Thank you for your time and support.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIpHTEODWqA]
This is the accounts for anyone who wishes to make a donation.Please leave a note on the transaction if you do deposit some money into the account so we know who has donated.
PLEASE ONLY DONATE TO THESE TWO ACCOUNTS BELOW AS OF 4TH FEB
Australia: WestPac Banking Corp
Matthew Scorringe
BSB: 734234
Acc#: 00-061-0728
Even the smallest donation is much appreciated!
Thanks
New Zealand: Bank of New Zealand
Matthew Scorringe
Acct # 0212540008461083
ABOUT Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia:
The signs and symptoms of APL are nonspecific and include fatigue (feeling tired), minor infections, or a tendency to bleed (hemorrhagic diathesis). There is usually pancytopenia with low levels of red blood cells (anemia), low levels of the granulocytes and monocytes (types of white blood cells that fight infections), and low levels of platelets (that are needed for blood to clot normally). Patients with APL may therefore receive transfusions.
The treatment of APL differs from that for all other forms of AML. Most APL patients are now treated with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA). ATRA is a form of “differentiation therapy.” It activates the retinoid receptor RAR and causes the promyeloctes to differentiate (to mature) and this deters them from proliferating.
ATRA can induce a complete remission in most patients with APL by causing the APL-blasts to mature. However, ATRA cannot eliminate the leukemic clone. ATRA is therefore used in combination with chemotherapy including an anthracycline drug. Survival is better with the combination of ATRA and chemotherapy than chemotherapy alone in newly diagnosed APL, because ATRA + chemotherapy makes for a slightly higher rate of complete remissions while allowing significantly fewer relapses. Maintenance treatment with ATRA, and possibly with low-dose chemotherapy, further reduces the incidence of relapse.
The prognosis for APL depends on a number of factors including the white blood cell (WBC) count at the time of diagnosis, etc. Overall, more than 90% of patients with newly diagnosed APL today can achieve complete remission, and about 75% can be cured by the combination of ATRA and chemotherapy.