Dear Mumsnetters
I am a MN user working on a campaign to increase stem cell donor registration and cord blood donation, especially by BAME communities, to try to save my friend's life.
If you are in London we are running a donor registration event in Chinatown on Sunday 24 April.
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/swabforyvette-stem-cell-donor-drive-in-chinatown-tickets-311882387617
If you are pregnant and able to donate cord blood (its only offered at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, St George’s Hospital and University College London Hospital), or if you are under 40 (pregnant or not) please consider registering as a stem cell donor.
My friend Yvette Chin is dying of a rare blood cancer and her only hope for survival is to find a match for stem cell therapy.
Yvette is mixed race Chinese and Jamaican.
White UK patients have a 70% chance of finding a genetic match through the registries, and BAME patients about 25% - it is even harder for mixed race patients. (Source Anthony Nolan charity).
We are campaigning on this as an equalities issue.
More info on our campaign website:
www.swabforyvette.com/
Follow our socials
www.facebook.com/swabforyvette
www.instagram.com/swabforyvette/
www.linkedin.com/company/swabforyvette/
She's been in the media - listen to minute 39 to hear her interviewed here on BBC London.
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0btn6kb
metro.co.uk/2022/03/29/woman-with-cancer-cant-find-stem-cell-donor-because-shes-mixed-race-16359183/
Info on cord blood donation:
www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/cord-blood-bank/
You can sign up as a donor (not cord blood) by a postal registration through DKMS - it is just a cheek swab, easier than an LFT.
www.dkms.org.uk/get-involved/virtual-drives/yvette
Or here
www.anthonynolan.org/help-save-a-life/patient-appeals/current-appeals/swabforyvette
Please share this campaign in your networks. If you have experience of donating cord blood, of bone marrow donation, or of blood cancer, I'd love to hear it.
If MNHQ are interested in supporting our campaign please contact me.
ACLT (African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust) have also been campaigning on this for many years.
www.anthonynolan.org/aclt-and-anthony-nolan
Please sign up: if you aren't a match for Yvette, you could be for someone else.