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URGENT – Can you help Ihsan find a donor?

Six year old Ihsan Khan, from the Telford area, urgently needs a stem cell/bone marrow match to help treat his Aplastic Anaemia.

We are working with Ihsan’s family to recruit potential donors at events being held this week.  These being:

Friday 3 May 2019 4.30-7.30pm
Jamia Masjid Ghousia, Regent Street, Wellington, Telford, TF1 1PF

Saturday 4 May 2019 – 12-3pm
Telford Central Mosque 88-90 King Street, Wellington, Telford, TF1 1NZ

If you are unable to get to either event but still want to sign up, you can do so here.  Please help: even if you aren’t a match for Ihsan, you could be for one of the other 2,000 people in the UK currently waiting for a match.

Photo shows Ihsan Khan and his Mum
Photo shows Ihsan Khan and his Mum Assia

 


Little lifesavers – Allscott Heath FC

Thank you so much to the Allscott Heath FC U9s team for raising money for our charity at their bag pack fundraiser at Asda in Donnington, Telford last Saturday. They raised an impressive £420.45 for Race Against Blood Cancer which will enable us to continue our work saving the lives of people with blood cancer.

We are so proud of the whole team of little lifesavers – and their siblings – for taking on this momentous challenge and giving up their time to support the charity Also thank you to Marcus, Morgan, Simra and Khalis for helping out too!

We’d also like to say a big thank you to ASDA Donnington for having us and to our community engagement manager Gemma Elsmore for co-ordinating the event.

Allscott


Thank you Matt Murray

Many thanks to Race Against Blood Cancer’s friend, Matt Murray, who has been responsible for a £500 donation to us this week.

Matt has been working with creative agency ‘Material’ on the current SSE Women’s FA Cup campaign, and amazingly, he decided to donate his fee to Race Against Blood Cancer.

Your ongoing support of our work is incredible Matt, thank you.

Matt

Matt Murray (right) with his friend and fellow ex-Wolves player, Carl Ikeme (centre) and the Race Against Blood Cancer team


Our newest volunteer – Rebecca Richards

Our grateful thanks to Rebecca Richards – the newest member of our volunteering team -who ran her first two donor drives for us last week. Her first took place at Bloor Homes (Midlands branch) where she signed up 20 potential stem cell donors and she then registered a further 20 at Sunday’s UK Triathlon Events Birmingham Run. Many thanks to Rebecca for a great week of sign ups, those who allowed us to host our donor drives and to all those potential lifesavers who registered with us.

We would also like to show our appreciation to Amie, James, Jen and Afy for volunteering their time last week and helping to help raise awareness of the work we do. Thank you everyone!

If you’d like to find out more about volunteering for the charity and running your own donor drives on our behalf, please contact us.

Bex large


Race Against Blood Cancer hosts donor drive at Sikh Temple

Thank you to the Darbar Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in Walsall for a wonderful experience on Saturday where we went along to register potential stem cell donors.

We’d also like to show appreciation to our team Gemma Elsmore, Sophie Gemma, Beth Elsmore and Joanne Wade for giving up their time on the day to help spread awareness and register potential lifesavers!

Temple


Celebrating our life-saving impact

Race Against Blood Cancer is delighted to confirm that twelve potential stem cell donors recruited by the charity have now gone on to give transplants to patients affected by blood cancer, giving their recipients a second chance at life!

In the four years since the charity’s inception, our small team have inspired more than 6400 people to sign up as potential donors, giving hope to blood cancer patients in the UK and beyond. Not only did we have twelve donors go on to donate their stem cells, a quarter of these were people from a BAME background, which is significantly higher than the national average.

We would like to say a huge heartfelt thank you to everyone that has registered with us and to all of our registration partners – because of your support, many lives have now been saved.

If you still haven’t registered to become a potential life-saver, you can do so by clicking here.

12


Race Against Blood Cancer Charity Launch Night

Race Against Blood Cancer – Making a Difference

In this video you’ll learn more about us, our impact and why we wish to improve the lives of people with blood cancer.

To help us to give every blood cancer patient the equal prospect of a quality stem cell match, and a better chance of survival, please consider supporting our work by making a monthly donation here.

We would like to give a special thank you to Carl Ikeme, Matt Murray, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Twenty5Eight who have helped us raise awareness of the need for more stem cell donor registrations, and for their support in the making of this video.


Donor Match Stuart Freeman tells us about his stem cell donation experience

Earlier this year we were thrilled to hear that one of our donor sign ups in 2017, Stuart Freeman, had been matched with a patient in need.  In July this year we were pleased to accompany Stuart on his visit to the London Clinic where he harvested his stem cells for the first time and was able to donate these cells to give his recipient a second chance at life.

We interviewed Stuart after his donation to give us some insight into his experience of being a stem cell donor and potential life saver.

How and why did you originally register as a potential blood stem cell/bone marrow donor?

I was with my brother at the Lilleshall 10k running event last year where Race Against Blood Cancer were holding a donor drive.  I knew of someone who had blood cancer but I knew nothing about the stem cell or bone marrow donors or how they are used to help blood cancer patients.   However, when I was shown how easy the sign up process was I went ahead and registered.

How did you find out you were a match for someone and how did you feel?

DKMS called to tell me I was a match for a patient in need – I obviously wanted to do it but like most people I did feel a little nervous as I hadn’t really researched the actual donation process beforehand, and didn’t know if there may be any long term side effects. Once I spent a bit of time researching the process I felt more at ease.  Knowing that I may have a few short term side effects didn’t bother me as I knew I could be saving a life.

Did you get to choose the method of donation? 

Yes I did – Initially they asked for bone marrow, which I was happy to donate but after reviewing the recipient’s needs the patient team were more than happy to take my stem cells instead.

How did DKMS prepare you for the donation (appointments/medical injections etc?)

I had a medical a few weeks before which I attended at the London Clinic and then 4 lots of 4 injections, four days before the actual donation.  The medical team also came out to me to do the injections – I was originally meant to be paintballing and so they were even prepared to come out to the venue, but it got cancelled so they came to me at home whilst I was watching the England World Cup game instead!

Where did you go to harvest your cells and how long did the process take?

I went to the London Clinic for my procedure – it took around 3hrs 50 minutes to collect the stem cells and I had to wait for around 30 minutes afterwards for them to check I had donated enough cells.  They needed 5 million but managed to collect 23 million in that short time.  I was told they would use what they needed and freeze the rest for anyone else who may need them.

Is it painful and did you experience any side effects?

I didn’t experience any pain as such; I just had the usual side effects that I’d prepared myself for, so I was slightly achy in the lower back and feeling a little groggy after the injections.  The medical team told me I would feel better after the stem cell collection and they were right.  The following day I was feeling 100% again!

Did you incur any costs?

DKMS covered my travel and hotel stay as I lived quite far from the clinic.  I was also given the opportunity to use an optional food and drink voucher but I used my own money.

How did you feel mentally and physically after the donation procedure was over?

I actually felt really good physically almost straight away; any side effects you have are not serious and are only short term.  I felt so positive that I had the opportunity to save a life and be able to raise awareness of being a donor and what the process involves – the worst part was being on camera!

How do you think we can encourage other people like you to register?

It’s really important to me to get across how easy it is to register and to donate.  Just a few hours of my time could have potentially saved a life and that makes me feel great.  For me it’s all about the awareness, if I can help inform people that life saving like this exists and show how simple the process is, then I know people would register in a heartbeat!

We would like to say a massive thank you to Stuart – the impact that he is going to have on his recipient life can’t be put into words. We would also like to thank you to DKMS, the medical team and the amazing staff on the day at The London Clinic.

Stuart and Alex Morison   Stuart Donation   Stuart Donating Stem Cells


Race Against Blood Cancer

Race Against Blood Cancer remembers Khaleel with fundraising event in his name

Last Saturday Race Against Blood Cancer hosted the ‘Remembering Khaleel’ fundraiser event in memory of young Telford boy Khaleel Khan who sadly lost his life following a battle with Leukaemia last year.

Despite the heavy down pours throughout the day, the event was a massive success with a fantastic turnout and huge support from the community. Khaleel’s little sister Simra volunteered for a sponsored hair cut which also took place on Saturday – she raised over £300 for the charity as well as donating her hair to the ‘The Little Princess Trust’ to make wigs for children with cancer. It was an emotional and proud moment for the family, combined with such a lovely atmosphere which was a touching tribute to Khaleel.

We would like to say a massive thank you to Duke York Trench pub in Telford for hosting; the performers, those who donated equipment, raffle prizes and promotional material, and all of the community who turned out to support the event. We would also like to thank all of the Race Against Blood Cancer volunteers for their help on the day and our community engagement officer Gemma Elsmore for organising such a memorable day for Khaleel’s friends and family. Over £1300 was raised which will enable us to continue our work in growing and diversifying the blood stem cell donor register.

Gemma also reached her personal target of registering 1000 donors since starting with the charity last summer – we are proud of her achievement which gives hope to many patients waiting for life saving transplants.

Remember Khaleel Fundraiser Poster


Race Against Blood Cancer

Blood cancer sufferer Dennis loses his battle against acute myeloid leukaemia

It is with tremendous sadness that our partners DKMS announced the passing of Dennis; a loving husband, father and a courageous fighter of blood cancer.

Since his diagnosis in January, Dennis, his family and our partners fought incredibly hard against a resistant form of acute myeloid leukaemia but sadly the battle was lost last week as a blood stem cell match was not found for him in time.

All of us at Race Against Blood Cancer send our deepest condolences to Dennis’ family and friends as this difficult time – hearing news like this really does bring home the importance of the work we’re doing to try to increase the volume and diversity of the register so EVERY patient has an equal chance of finding a donor.

Dennis


What can I do to help? You can help save a life in 1 of 4 ways - find out more
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Donor register
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Get involved
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Donate funds
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Raise awareness
Help us show how big the problem is & how easy the solution