GOOD NEWS BAFFLES DOCTORS, BUT DELIGHTS JOHANNA

l New DNA test reveals that I have zero per cent leukemia cells in my body. 
l I've stopped taking my medication - and I've put on a stone. It's fantastic!

Her mischievous grin is back in place. Her face is animated, and her stories punctuated with cheerful laughter. Like every other attractive, intelligent 24-year-old woman, Johanna MacVicar has things to do, places to go and people to see.

Unlike most other 24-year-olds, however, Johanna, from Bishopton, is fighting a disease which could kill her.

As anyone who has followed her diary in the Evening Times for the last two years will know, Johanna has leukemia, a cancer of white blood cells.

You will know, if you have spotted her at fundraising events around the country, that she is a fervent supporter of the Anthony Nolan Trust, which operates a life-saving register of potential donors.

And you will know that without a bone marrow transplant, Johanna will die.

But after eight years of living with chronic myeloid leukemia, and a failed transplant, Johanna is confounding her doctors.

Usually, after around six or seven years, the chronic stage becomes acute, and the patient has very little chance of survival. As glimmers of hope go, this is a bright one.

"The doctors might be baffled, but I'm not," smiled Johanna, as she scoffed jam doughnuts on her lunchbreak. "I have a positive mental attitude. I don't think about leukemia. As far as I'm concerned, I don't have it."

She has two big reasons for feeling so happy. The first is that a DNA test has revealed she has zero per cent leukemia cells in her body. The second is that she has stopped taking her medication and as a result, is experiencing none of its unpleasant side effects, including hair and weight loss, dizziness and lethargy.

"I've put on a stone!" she beamed, aware that for most women of her age, this would be a minor disaster.

"I'm up to seven and a half stone, which is fantastic. I've got my appetite back, so for the first time in years I really enjoyed Christmas dinner!"

Johanna came off the drug Interferon after a visit to a leukemia specialist in London, whom she met through film star Dougray Scott.

Dougray, and pop superstar Robbie Williams, are both huge supporters of Johanna's, and have pledged to help the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust. Both adore her, and describe her as an "extraordinary human being".

Dougray first met Johanna when he was researching a movie role as a leukemia patient.

"I came off the drug for a month's trial and instantly I felt so much better," she explained. "I don't want to slate Interferon, because it does its job.

"It put me in remission in the first place. But I've been injecting it every night for six years."

Johanna was told she seemed a likely candidate for a new drug which was going through trials. It would do the same job, but with fewer side effects.

"Before I could start, they did a DNA test, and it came back with the result that I have zero percent leukemia cells in my body," she said. "Before, it was just less than 5%. This was amazing news. I didn't go ahead with the drug trials, because, as the doctors say, what's the point of treating something that isn't there?"

Sounding a note of caution, she added: "It's not saying I'm cured, but I'm in remission. And that's a better result than I've ever had. It's really exciting."

Suddenly, Johanna says, she can make plans to do things she never thought would be possible.

"I'd love to visit countries all over the world, like Australia and Thailand," she smiled. "Before, I always thought it would be irresponsible to take holidays to faraway places, because of my health. I couldn't have malaria jabs, for example, as that would interfere with my medication.

"Now, the world's my oyster!"

Aside from planning holidays - doctors reckon that if regular DNA tests continue to show the same result there is no reason why she can't stay off the medication - Johanna continues to live her life the way she has always done, full of energy and positivity.

"I don't sit and wait for the phone to ring, to tell me a match has been found and I can have the transplant," she explained.

"Because I had so much radiation therapy the first time, I can't have any more, and there is always the risk that I wouldn't live through a transplant.

"But, ironically, at the moment it is my only chance of survival.

"Remission might last for five, 10, 15 years. The leukemia might reach the acute stage tomorrow, or next year, or in 10 years. But I don't think about it. You have to live for the moment."

She added, with a grin: "Now I've got all this energy, I'm partying like I've never partied before - and I'm loving it."

Johanna talks to Kirsty Wark in Lives Less Ordinary on BBC2 tonight at 7.30pm.

If you would like more information about the Anthony Nolan Trust, call 01555 660 388. To order an information pack and application form to join the register, call 0901 88 222 34.

Copyright 2002 Scottish Media Newspapers Limited