Every year I complete a challenge, usually cycling based, for charity. This year I will be doing 2 events for 2 charities. The first event is a cycle ride/race from coast to coast, from Bridlington to Morecombe. This is 170 miles over 2 days . The next event is the Alpe d'huez Triathlon. This is the long course distance and is effectively an Iron man, 2.4k swim, 118km ride and a half marathon. The ride takes in the iconic Alpe d'huez climb featured on the Tour de France so many times. It all seemed like a good idea at the time!

You can see both charities on my page but this biog is for something hugely important to me on a very personal level. Without going into to much detail, its not my story to tell, a super close friend has been touched by the work of the Sunflower Fund in South Africa. The details of their work below will outline it better than i could. When this horrific situation happened, I was literally floored by the news and a few things occurred to me. How much I loved and missed this guy, how we are not all bulletproof, regardless of background and also how this sort of stuff can effect us all directly or indirectly. I am pleased to say we met in Germany after all was clear, i genuinely struggled to hold it together as I didn't know if we would meet again. As i said its not my story to tell but all is well and him and the Mrs (!) are amazing. It occurred to me that shining a light on things through talking, knowledge, fundraising and support can all help, so regardless of the huge personal part for me, that's what I aim to do. The sunflower Fund don't have presence on Just Giving so I will crowdfund as a charity fund raise and then send the money direct to The Sunflower Fund.......so anything you have !!!!!! Is very welcome!! Yes this is a SA charity but it all helps in terms of a global solution to a global issue.

The Sunflower Fund is a non-profit organisation fights blood diseases like Leukaemia through the recruitment of stem cell donors and maintaining a registry of potential donors committed to helping anyone in need of a life-saving stem cell transplant. We fund raise to cover the cost of education and awareness about the need for and the process to become a blood stem cell donor as well as to cover the cost of the HLA tissue-typing test involved in the recruitment of donors. The Sunflower Fund also maintains a patient support fund to assist patients who are unable to afford costs associated with getting to transplant as well as being actively involved in creating a platform for support structures to assist patients, families and communities.

Every year, globally thousands of patients with blood diseases such as leukaemia reach the point where their only chance of survival is a stem cell transplant. “Tissue-types” are hereditary characteristics, which are fundamental in the process of matching donors and patients. 25% of patients may find a match within their family. The remaining 75% are dependent on an unrelated matched donor.

Genetically, the likelihood of finding a suitable unrelated matched donor is considerably greater within the same ethnic background. In addition to the understood ethnic diversity of the South African population, the 2011 Census released by StatsSA indicates that there are 2.19 million foreign-born people in South Africa. Research shows that the genomic variances between people of African descent are greater than those observed between European populations. This genetic diversity in African populations poses practical challenges for the transplantation medical community to find HLA-matched unrelated donors for patients in need of live-saving stem cell transplants.

A larger Registry significantly improves a patient’s prospects of finding matching stem cell donors.

In order to continue its valuable work, The Sunflower Fund relies solely on financial assistance from its dedicated funders – consisting of individuals, companies and trusts and foundations.

It takes just two test tubes of blood to become registered as a stem cell donor, but the tissue typing of each sample at the required molecular (DNA) level currently costs The Sunflower Fund R3 000 per test. Donors are asked to make a voluntary contribution to this expense, but these costs are primarily covered by The Sunflower Fund’s fundraising efforts.

Once the blood samples have been analysed, the individuals’ genetic information is then stored on a global database until the prospective donor is matched to a patient or turns 60 years old, which is the mandatory retirement age.

The Sunflower Fund aims to:

Recruit potential blood stem cell donors.

Promote public awareness of leukaemia and other chronic blood disorders through national education and awareness campaigns and events.

Create a Registry representative of the ethnic diversity in the South Africa.

Fund raise and cover the costs of the blood tests for tissue-typing blood samples provided by donors, currently @ R3 000 per recruited donor.

Fund raise to build our patient support fund, which assist with covering the costs of donor searches being processed for patients who are unable to afford the costs – based on approval by our independent clinician panel.