ACLT Bone Marrow and Organ Drive

Volunteers from the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust will be out on the streets of Leeds trying to recruit bone marrow, blood and organ donors. *Bone marrow and organ transplant matching is racially specific and charity raises awareness and recruits potential donors from all

ethnic backgrounds but particularly target the black, mixed race and Asian communities. The ACLT will be trying to register as many donors as possible in the hope that the Leeds and Yorkshire community will support

their efforts to save the lives of leukaemia and blood related cancer/disorder patients and those in need of a organ/s transplant.

African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust (ACLT) may be forced to close :-(

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Launched 15 years ago in Croydon, south London, the founders of the ACLT Orin Lewis and Beverley De-Gale made a commitment after their son Daniel De-Gale was diagnosed with leukaemia in 1993.

Since then, they have assiduously encouraged ethnic minorities and those from mixed-race families to register as bone marrow donors as there are less than three percent of potential ethnic minority donors on the UK Bone Marrow Register, despite the prevalence of leukaemia amongst these groups.

To read about this in more detail click HERE.

Also in this press release is the news that another charity , the "Mission Dine Club" is also facing the same fate!.

Come on folks, this is really awful and sad news and, after reading today about the owner of Newcastle United blowing £1 million in two hours whilst gambling(?), I can't beleive that out there somewhere is someone with a few quid to help keep these worthwhile chairites open.

Remember. "Charity is the queen of all virtues"!

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African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust Appeal Poster.

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So what…if you are Black or Mixed race?

It’s shocking but it’s true, your chances of finding a lifesaving bone marrow donor ARE much more worse if you’re BLACK

…because there are 24 times more white people than black people on UK bone marrow registers.
The ACLT recently held two Super Donation Days, which aimed to boost the number of lifesaving bone marrow donors. These were the results:

Choice FM (Global Radio) in Leicester Square – Saturday 22nd June
75 new potential bone marrow donors
Galaxy FM (Global Radio) in Birmingham – Saturday 10th July
28 new potential bone marrow donors

I have to say that the apathy talked about on the ACLT website is not only apparent in the Black/Mixed Race community.Recently we held 2 clinics on 2 seperate days, and the total number of people recruited? ..............48!

If you would like to help the ACLT save lives, clich HERE to visit their website.

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Extraordinary moment leukaemia sufferer met bone marrow donor who had saved her life

This article was in the Daily Mail web page recently.I guess that the story highlights the particular problems faces by people from ethnic minorities due to the lack of donors and the problems with recruiting.

Follow this link by clicking HERE

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Over 130 sign up to help leukaemia sufferer Imogin Appiah....but!

As I reported a few weeks ago, a young girl called Imogin Appiah was desperately looking for a potential bone marrow donor to help her fight her leukaemia.Sadly, after a lot of effort was put in by the ACLT, the turn out was not as good as had been hoped :-(.

This was taken from the ACLT website:

25 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME COULD GIVE IMOGIN A LIFE TIME.

Please read on...

My daughter Imogin Appiah is a wonderful intelligent 6 year old. She can be a handful at times but she is my world. One can only imagine my shock when I received the terrifying news that my baby was not well during my lunch break at work.
I had been working as a counter manager for a cosmetic company. That day Imogin was with her grandmother September 18th 2006, a double shock for two people in the space of only a few minutes.
Entering Mayday hospital, I began to tremble uncontrollably but I soldiered on only to have my worst fears confirmed. My beautiful daughter had ALL Acute, Lymphoblastic, Leukaemia). I asked if it was bad news. Yes it is Sheila; however it is treatable, yes most certainly. Those words became my strength and my hope.
From this day Imogin started a two and a half year course of chemotherapy and I was her full time carer. In October 2008 Imogin finished her treatment we celebrated with a trip to Disneyland Paris with the magical taxi tours. Amazingly, 250 children, the London Ambulance Service, the Fire Brigade, the British Police, and the French Police all helped to make it an unforgettable weekend.
The love that I have for my daughter is incredibly deep, she means the world to me I honour her and look upon her with the greatest of respect. She is and always will be a fighter.My day to day routine is based on her survival, she is strong, we are strong and we have reached out for support and received support from fantastic people.
I am writing this account from St. Georges hospital in Tooting, South London.
We came here on Tuesday 17th February because Imogin has unfortunately relapsed and will need a bone marrow transplant in the near future.
But we will continue with our hope, strength and continued determination to find her a match.

Words Written by Shelia Appiah, Imogin’s Mum.

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But the following message from Beverley De-Gale really sums up what actually happened on 30th April at the ACLT drive at Imogin's school, Elmwood Infant in Croydon

"DISAPPOINTMENT!

That is the only word I can use to express my feelings about the public turnout for 6 year old Imogin Appiah at yesterdays bone marrow appeal in her name.
My name is Beverley De-Gale; Co-founder of the ACLT Charity. Yesterday's drive was well publicised via the Newspaper Media (local and national), Radio, ITV London Tonight news, Facebook, ACLT Website etc. etc.
Please can anyone explain to me why only 42 people (who were mostly White and Asian) actually took 30 minutes out of their schedules to watch a short presentation, to fill in an application form and to then give a small sample of blood to place themselves on the bone marrow register?
Imogin's school is mostly made up of Black and Asian pupils but the community let her down! We (ACLT) just don't get it! SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN!!"

So come on folks.If you are Afro Caribbean,West Indian or a member of any other ethnic groups,please,please spare half an hour of your time to try and save Imogin.

You can come to the Donor Session's on the 23rd (Newark) or 25th (Kings Mill), and join the Anthony Nolan Register if you wish...the end product is still the same.....you may just have the chance to save someones life.

"You may be just one person in this world...but you may mean the world to just one person"

We wish all the best to Imogin and her family and fingers crossed that the fantastic work being carried out by the ACLT will result in a donor being found for this brave kid :-)