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*If you’re mixed race, particularly Asian-European, please, please, please read this. 

Please reblog this. 

Please give this a moment of your time to read this - you could save Lara's life, or somebody else with conditions like Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Lara needs a match to save her life. 

This my friend’s sister Lara. Lara is Thai-Chinese and Italian, and was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia just before Christmas. If you’re like me, you’ll see being mixed as a blessing, not a curse. However, being mixed race can mean you’re much more likely to be unable to find a life-saving stem cell donor when diagnosed with serious blood conditions, like Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. 

Lara urgently needs a stem cell donation to save her life, and is most likely to find a match from somebody who is of mixed Asian-European background.

Unfortunately, her only brother isn’t a match. 

Mixed race people only make up a tiny 3% of people on the stem cell worldwide register. 3%. And, within that, we have our vast mix of different heritages, be it Lara’s Thai-Chinese and Italian, my Jamaican and English, my friend’s Sri-Lankan and Scottish - the possibilities are endless. The mixed race community is small and we need to look out for each other. 

If you’re reading this, and you’re thinking ‘how can I help?’ Here’s how. If you’re in the UK, you can register yourself as a possible donor here. This will go on the worldwide registry, and you could save a life. All that happens to register, is that a pack is sent out to you, you spit in a cup, and then send the tube back to the Anthony Nolan charity and Bob’s your uncle! You’re on the register. It’s highly unlikely you’ll ever be contacted, but if you are, you could save a life. 

Even if you’re not mixed race, please join. Signing up the register could save a life. 

To find out more about Lara, donating stem cells, and where to go to donate if you don’t live in the UK, go to:

www.match4lara.com

https://www.facebook.com/match4lara

https://twitter.com/Match4Lara

A whole host of public figures have come out in support of Lara:

I’m lucky to go to university in such a beautiful town. 

Cynics frequently comment when the public have an outpouring of compassion for celebrities that pass away. They comment on how people ‘don’t really know them’ or ‘don’t really care’. 

What they fail to remember is that when a truly talented person comes along, we feel as though we know them. They come onto our screens in our very real homes, or in the very real music we listen to, or the very real books that we read. They make us feel real emotions, their very real portrayal can help people grow in real life, can help people work through real problems in their lives, and bring to life things that are cherished and sacred. 

JK Rowling entrusted Alan Rickman with arguably the most complicated character in the entire Harry Potter series, and Alan, (along with Maggie Smith and Richard Harris) was the one of the only actors in the cast that truly encapsulated the spirit of his character and the Harry Potter series. Alan Rickman’s portrayal was Snape. He brought the character to life - he acted as a vessel to make corporeal the imaginations of millions and millions of children and adults alike. Therefore, his influence on the millions of people mourning him is very real. We are mourning.

Alan Rickman did many more things in his life than perform in Harry Potter. But, for somebody from my generation, his contributions to my childhood and teenage years I will never forget. It is seldom that you see such a crisp and accurate portrayal of a person that only existed on pages before. 

The closest I ever got to meeting Alan may have only been glimpsing at his face after standing in the rain and the cold at the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere in Trafalgar Square, but his presence in my life, and many others, was very real. Delegitimising the grief people feel is an insult to them, and to Alan’s memory.

The night’s sky has gained another star tonight. 

‘To the well organised mind, death is but the next great adventure.’ - Albus Dumbledore

There are times when you can’t laugh, or when laughing is inappropriate, or when you’ve been hurt too deeply.

However, if you can, even if those that seek to destroy you are coming for you, laugh it off. 

Laugh at the energy they’re wasting to be tossers. 

Laugh at the time you just don’t have for them.

Just. Laugh.