African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust urges shoppers to give the gift of life this Christmas
By Hannah Williamson, Chief Reporter, From Your Local guardian UK
PHOTO: Kevin Kararwa from Morden needs a bone marrow donor
Shoppers are being urged to give the gift of life this Christmas and register to become a bone marrow donor.
Twenty-four year old Kevin Kararwa’s family are from Kenya, East Africa, while 37-year-old Roger Moore’s family are from Barbados in the Caribbean.
Teenager Gabby Steele, 13, is half White British and half Caribbean and 7-year-old Rhiane is half Mauritian and half Asian.
They are all in need of bone marrow donors and a genetically matched donor of similar ethnicity offers them all the best chance of finding a successful match.
Less than one percent of the 800,000 donors of the UK registry are black African Caribbean, African, black mixed race or Asian.
The African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust will host a donor registration drive at the Whitgift Shopping Centre- near poundland- on December 14, between 12pm and 6pm.
The team will be registering new potential bone marrow donors aged 17 to 55 who sign up and give a simple cheek swab taking just 15 minutes.
ACLT Co-Founder Beverley De-Gale OBE said: “Thousands of people die waiting for a matching bone marrow donor every year, largely due to the lack of volunteer donors.
“The tragic loss of life IS preventable if more people took the time to donate and help others. Black and Asian people are very under-represented on all registers, people do care but need to show it, take personal ownership, act now and sign up.”
For more information visit aclt.org or call 0208 240 4480
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