The 28-year-old outside half admitted it has “been a mad few weeks” after releasing a statement this afternoon.
In a statement, the former Wales U20 pivot said: “For those that don’t already know, I have been diagnosed with Hepatosplenic T cell Lymphoma. It’s a very rare form of cancer that is affecting my liver and spleen.
“To beat this I’m going to need a stem cell transplant and for that to happen I need to find a donor. So the more people I can reach with this, the better chance I have of finding a match. Not only that, if you aren’t a match for me you could be for someone else and save their life.
“Initially I had no intentions of posting anything on social media about this but after thinking things over it makes more sense to do so. The more people that sign up, the more matches they will find for others as well.
“Even if one person finds a match from me doing this it will have made a difference. It’s easy to join the donor list, you simply have to sign up and return a mouth swab that is sent to you in the post.
“If you are able to get tested, my family and I will be forever grateful. Tough few months ahead.”
Having come through the Dragons academy, Davies has played for Bedwas, Newport, Ebbw Vale and Cross Keys before starring on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
He played for Wales from 2015-2020, and with 526 points next to his name, only Luke Morgan (655) and Luke Treharne (638) have accumulatedmore points for their country on the series.
He represented Wales in the Sevens Rugby World Cup in San Francisco and in the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. But siince the Covid-19 pandemic, he has played semi-professionally for Pontypool whilst training as an electrician.
In February 2022, he started experiencing signs of thrombocytopenia (deficiency of platelets in the blood), which doctors assumed at the time was caused by a viral infection. After a short course of medication, it was assumed that the condition was resolved as his platelet count had returned to a healthy level.
Ethan Davies makes a break for Wales
The low platelet count resurfaced in June, worse than before, accompanied by a very sore ‘stomach’ after eating, so he was put back on a course of steroids and immunoglobulin, though this time they had little effect.
It was only when presenting at A&E in July and being given a CT scan that doctors realised his spleen had enlarged to twice its normal size, and he was admitted for testing to discover a root cause. After various blood and bone marrow tests and further scans, Davies was diagnosed with the blood cancer Hepatosplenic T cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
Delays in receiving the full results of his bone marrow biopsy meant that he had to wait a number of weeks between the first, partial diagnosis and starting treatment.
He was due to start his first round of intensive chemotherapy today. He will need further chemotherapy and a blood stem cell transplant from a donor later this year. Unfortunately, no one in his family is a match so Ethan and his loved ones are now searching for an unrelated stem cell donor.
If you’re aged 17-55 and in general good health, please consider joining the register by clicking the button below. You may be Ethan’s perfect match.
Ready to become a potential lifesaver? Join the register now
