The Alarm’s Mike Peters on His Want for a Stem Cell Donor and Transplant (Unique)

It was April of 2022, and Mike Peters thought he was going to die.

“I used to be on a ward the place there have been individuals dying round me,” remembers Peters, 65, in an unique interview with PEOPLE. “I used to be clinging on. I might see the docs have been worrying about issues that they could not or did not wish to inform me about.”

Definitely, the lead singer of the internationally acclaimed rock band The Alarm had already been by a lot in his life, having been first identified with continual lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) again in 1995. However as Peters discovered himself touring the UK with The Alarm as a part of their fortieth anniversary tour, he observed modifications in his well being that involved him tremendously.

“All day I used to be coughing, and I used to be sweating after which there was the night time sweats,” remembers Peters. “It was uncontrolled. I knew once I acquired to the top of the tour, I had to be seen.”

And when Peters was seen, he acquired fairly a scary prognosis. “I used to be identified with pneumonia, and for a leukemia survivor, pneumonia is the worst factor that may occur,” Peters explains. “It grew to become very scary. The pneumonia wasn’t going away, after which my lungs full of blood. The leukemia went uncontrolled, and I used to be additionally identified with [chronic lung disease] bronchiectasis. I needed to dangle on so I might merely keep alive.”

Fortunately, Peters did dangle on and he did keep alive, and he proceeded to infuse the extreme feelings of his varied well being scares into the hope now discovered on The Alarm’s album Forwards, together with the highly effective track “Transition,” whose music video premieres completely on PEOPLE. 

However then, in April of 2024 and on the eve of a 50-date U.S. tour with The Alarm, Peters felt a lump in his neck. A biopsy of the lump confirmed that Peters had developed Richter’s syndrome, inflicting his CLL to “rework” into an aggressive fast-growing lymphoma.  

“My glands have been the scale of tennis balls, and I regarded like the Elephant Man,” explains Peters, whose situation clearly compelled the cancellation of The Alarm’s U.S. tour. “At one level, I needed to assume to myself, this might be it. I needed to face it as much as that as a result of I needed to discover the energy to simply accept it and acknowledge it and notice it was doubtlessly an actual consequence. After which, I had to determine how I used to be going to deal with it?”

He did address it with the assistance of his loving household, together with his spouse Jules, who had additionally been identified with breast most cancers in 2016. However whereas his spouse is now in remission, Peters finds himself in yet one more precarious place with regards to his well being.

“I could also be dwelling with a uncommon and aggressive lymphoma, and want a stem cell transplant, however I do know I’m fortunate,” says Peters, who continues to obtain chemotherapy whereas working along with his docs relating to the subsequent steps of his still-harrowing well being journey. “I’ve my lovely household, I reside in an unimaginable a part of the world, I’ve my music and all that comes with it.”

And in some ways, Peters says his final prognosis stays firmly in his arms as he continues to do every part in his energy to remain as wholesome as he presumably can. “I do know that having a very good wholesome physique and good wholesome thoughts is a crucial weapon while you’re attempting to face down the form of illnesses that I’ve needed to face,” he says. 

And whereas Peters instinctively is aware of that his time on Earth is restricted, he additionally is aware of that he has the possibility to do one thing miraculous within the time he has left.

“I’m exceptionally fortunate as a result of I’m in a position to entry the perfect medical therapy and care and since it appears extremely possible {that a} matching stem cell donor will likely be discovered for me,” he tells PEOPLE. “Solely 30% of individuals can have an identical stem cell donor inside their very own household, which implies the overwhelming majority of individuals will want an unrelated stem cell donor. An entire stranger will possible present a doubtlessly life-saving stem cell donation for me. My donor will likely be my one in 1,000,000, my likelihood of survival.”

By way of the Love Hope Power basis, Peters and his spouse Jules are working to unfold the phrase concerning the “One in a Million” marketing campaign, within the hopes of registering extra individuals to grow to be blood stem donors. For extra data and to register your self to assist, try www.lovehopestrength.org.

Peters provides, “At present, solely 60% of sufferers will discover a matching stem cell donor, making the necessity for brand new donors essential. Take into consideration your one in 1,000,000. Your accomplice, little one, mother or father, or your finest good friend. Think about in the event that they want a stem cell donation. Get on the record to doubtlessly save a life now.”