Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as Leukaemia, Lymphoma or Myeloma.
DKMS is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the fight against blood cancer and blood disorders by: creating awareness; recruiting bone marrow donors to provide a second chance at life; raising funds to match donor registration costs; supporting the improvement of therapies through research; and supporting patients from day one of their diagnoses.
Every 20 minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukaemia. It is the third most common cause of cancer death in the UK. However, less than half of the UK population are aware of blood cancer issues and 83% don't know that a simple cheek swab is all it takes to register as a potential blood stem cell donor.
A blood stem cell donation from a genetically similar person can often be the best hope of survival for people fighting a blood cancer or a blood disorder. Ian’s sisters have both been tested but were not a match, so he is relying on finding a match from an unrelated donor.
How you can help?
If you are aged 17-55 years old and in good general health you can register for your home swab kit.
If you've already registered but haven't returned your swabs please remember to post them back. Otherwise they won't be to analyse your tissue type and add you to the stem cell registry.
In the upcoming months DVS will be hosting a number of charity and recruitment days to try and find a match for Ian and so many others in the same situation.