#match4lara

Hey, everyone. Raising awareness time!  

This is my sister, Liz:

She’s running in the London Marathon in April. I am super proud of her! 

Not only that, she is raising money for Anthony Nolan, an amazing charity that saves lives by finding stem cell or bone marrow matches for people with blood disorders and cancers, like leukaemia. Transplants are lifesaving, but only 30% of people who need them are likely to find a match within their families.  That means 70% of people who need transplants rely on registers of donors to find a match. That’s why Anthony Nolan’s work is so crucial. 

It registers and matches the stem cell/bone marrow types of volunteers in the UK, and co-ordinates with registers all over the world to find matches.

But finding matches for transplants can still be incredibly difficult.

Diversifying the donor register is particularly important.  Currently, only 3% of donors on worldwide registers are mixed race. 

That’s why supporting this charity financially, or by registering as a donor with Anthony Nolan or another stem cell/bone marrow register could literally save a life.  

I’m really proud of my sister and I think she’s picked a great charity to support. Please, please click on the link and consider sponsoring her if you’re able.  

Or just reblog to help raise awareness for this crucial cause. 

Or even better, consider registering as a stem cell/bone marrow donor!  Thank you!

Health

Match4Lara viral campaign pays off as stem cell donor found for leukaemia student

A student diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer has found a stem cell donor despite a "needle in a haystack" search backed by celebrities and politicians. Lara Casalotti, 24, from Hampstead in north London was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in December 2015. Her mixed Thai and Italian heritage meant the odds of finding a match were unlikely with only 3% of mixed-race donors on public stem cell registers worldwide. Cancer charity Anthony Nolan has now announced a match has been found and the stem cells could be donated next month.

Thanks to everyone's immense support, I have always stayed hopeful that I would find one, but I realise how lucky I have been given how difficult it was to find that donor.

Lara Casalotti

The donor's identity has to be kept a secret due to patient-donor confidentiality regulations. Her story prompted a global campaign to help Lara find a match. Celebrities, including Prime Minister David Cameron and novelist JK Rowling, backed the Match4Lara appeal which scoured various countries, including Thailand, the US and Italy. Lara, who is studying for a Masters in global migration at University College London, said: "I want to keep urging people to sign up to the donor registries so that everyone can have a chance of finding their match."

The Match4Lara events planned around the world over the coming weeks will go ahead as planned, so that other families can one day receive the same good news.

*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:

“Calling out all of the mixed kids! So a friend of a friend has been diagnosed with leukemia; she's 24, living in London, and will need a stem cell transplant. Since she's mixed Chinese-Thai-Italian, it's going to be very difficult to find a match; only 3% of those on the global registry are mixed race and that doesn't necessarily mean that they're of Asian-European descent.

But since we all know Asia and Europe are cesspools of half-bloods (cue the Harry Potter theme song), the match can totally be any one of us!

If you're at all interested, you can go to a local hospital where you can spit into a cotton swab and be added onto the donor registry; in the case that you're a match for Lara or anyone else, it's a very low-risk procedure and donors don't bear any cost associated with the donation.

Would also be great if you can share this with any siblings, mixed Asian-Europeans that you know OR share on Facebook. After all, we (the mixed people) are all the future and should look out for each other.” 

America: To help you can join BeTheMatch ( https://join.bethematch.org/Match4Lara ) or