Member of the Month November 2025
Leo sproson
Our Member of the Month this month is Leo Sproson.
In so many ways, 16 year old Leo Sproson is a typical teenager. He loves gaming and VR, has a brilliant group of friends, and recently began studying electrical engineering at college. But behind all the normal everyday moments, Leo is facing something unimaginable: a leukaemia diagnosis that has turned his and his family's world upside down.
Leo’s health issues began years before his current diagnosis. Just after his 12th birthday, he was struck by acute liver disease and went into liver failure. Thankfully he survived, but his blood health needed close monitoring for years afterward.
For a while, life felt normal again. But recently, Leo became exhausted, far more than could be explained by long college days. When unusually large bruises appeared, Jenna’s instincts told her that something was seriously wrong.
“Leo looked so pale, and I just knew he needed a blood test,” she says.
Within hours of that test, the family received a call urging them to get him to hospital. At Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Leo needed an immediate transfusion. Days later, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), a serious form of blood cancer.
“Hearing the doctor say those words broke me,” Jenna says. “I cried in the hallway. Leo is our only child and our best friend. Telling him he had cancer at 16 was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
And yet, true to his nature, Leo quickly found the strength to make his parents smile again.
Leo’s medical team have confirmed that he will need a stem cell transplant as part of his treatment.
Only one in three patients find a match within their family. As Leo has no siblings, he must rely entirely on the kindness of a stranger. Yet just 7% of eligible people in the UK are currently registered as stem cell donors.
Most people on the register will never be called to donate, but if you are matched, nine out of ten donations are completed through a straightforward outpatient procedure, similar to platelet donation.
Jenna says; “Our biggest hope is that Leo finds a donor as soon as possible. He’s already finished one round of intense chemotherapy, and it’s been so hard for him, and for us to watch. There aren’t enough words for how important it is to join the register. You don’t realise its importance until you’re the family who needs it. Someone out there has the potential to save our only child’s life. Leo deserves a full, happy future, and when he gets it, it will be because a stranger chose to donate.”
“Leo is my whole world. He’s my mini me, my greatest joy, and he deserves a second chance at life. Watching him face this with such courage breaks my heart, but it also fills me with pride.” - Warren, Leo's dad
Leo is already fighting with courage, humour, and determination – everything you’d expect from the resilient young man his family adore. Now, he just needs one person willing to step forward.
