Leukaemia survivor's £1,400 gift for research

A SCOTTISH leukaemia patient has marked his 50th birthday with a donation to the charity that helped save his life.

Brian Milne, from Balmedie, near Aberdeen, became the first person from the north-east of Scotland to be successfully treated for leukaemia following a bone marrow transplant 23 years ago.

The transplant was carried out in Glasgow in 1987 when Mr Milne was 27. His sister Shirley Buchan, an art student from Peterhead who was 23 at the time, donated the marrow to help save her brother's life.

Mr Milne was given a clean bill of health three weeks after his surgery, following chemotherapy at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Yesterday he returned to the infirmary to hand over a cheque for 1,400 to Leukaemia Research.

Mr Milne said: "A year after my transplant, I met my wife Shona and years down the line we had our son, Jason, thanks to several rounds of fertility treatment. Jason is now 14 and I wanted to give something back, raise awareness and let people know that there is always hope."

In February more than 100 of Mr Milne's family and friends joined him at a restaurant for his 50th birthday with donations to leukaemia research replacing gifts.

Mr Milne works as a technician for Bridge of Don company Seatronics, which matched his birthday donations, bringing the total raised to 1,400.